Dr. Steven Ambrusko and patient Jimeerah McKnight sit together in the pediatric oncology clinic

Treatment for Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders

Treating children with these diseases is very different from treating adults. At Roswell Park Oishei Children’s, you’ll have more than just one pediatric expert, you’ll have a team of them. This team includes physicians from different medical specialties — surgery, hematology, oncology, neuro-oncology, radiation medicine, pathology, diagnostic radiology, and others — who bring their unique expertise together to determine the best path forward for your child.

Treatments we offer

Your child's treatment plan may involve more than one type of treatment approach and include one or more of the following:

  • Surgery to remove the tumor from the body.
  • Medical treatments, which use chemotherapy and/or targeted therapy drugs to attack cancer cells in the body.
  • Immunotherapy which uses drugs to stimulate the patient’s immune system into fighting the cancer.
  • Radiation therapy to direct high energy radiation to the cancer and destroy cancer cells.
  • Gamma Knife radiosurgery, a special kind of radiation therapy, specifically for precise treatment of tumors and cancerous lesions in the brain.
  • Cellular therapy such as Kymriah, which uses the patient’s own re-engineered T-cells to fight the cancer.
  • Blood and marrow transplant (BMT) which replaces the patient’s destroyed bone marrow with new bone marrow or stem cells from a donor or their own cells.
  • Chronic transfusion therapy
  • Clinical trials that offer access to the very latest promising options.

Our clinic rooms, lounges and other spaces are designed especially for our young patients and their families. Inpatient treatments, such as surgery and blood marrow transplant take place at John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital. Outpatient treatments such as chemotherapy and infusions, radiation therapy, and Gamma Knife radiosurgery take place at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

We can help

We know how overwhelming this must feel. Our team will walk you through every step of the way, coordinating what your child needs and when, including counseling, child life specialists, nutrition services, physical therapy, integrative medicine and more, as well as helping you and your whole family to understand and cope. You don’t need to figure it all out; we are here for you. .

Pediatric support services