Watch as Diane Nugent, MD, tells us how the research happening at CHOC Children’s is changing screening and treatment for childhood disease. And not just in Orange County–across the country.
Learn more about the CHOC Children’s Research Institute.
Add comment August 20th, 2010
CHOC Research Institute Associate Ryan Roberts is working with a team of scientists to identify specific genetic markers for Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia .
By carefully studying the genetic origins of pediatric disease, he is helping to pioneer new screenings and treatments for red cell abnormalities.
To learn more about The CHOC Research Institute, click here.
Add comment August 11th, 2010
Oncofertility is a relatively new field that studies how cancer treatments affect fertility. After all, chemotherapy and radiation may be crucial tools for beating cancer. However, they can also damage reproductive organs. One of the biggest problems cancer survivors face is fertility preservation. Some of the most advanced oncofertility services in the world are available right here in our community – at CHOC Childrens’s, as part of its Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Program.
The program has long offered fertility solutions for males. Female patients, however, face a more difficult challenge. “For a long time, we didn’t understand how chemotherapy affected the ovaries,” says Leonard Sender, M.D., medical director of CHOC Children’s Cancer Institute. “Over the last few years, however, the science has advanced considerably.”
One option for older adolescent patients is egg harvesting, similar to that used for standard infertility treatments. However, the procedure takes at least two to three weeks, before chemotherapy can begin. Most teens (who often have aggressive cancers) can’t wait that long.
Fortunately, there’s a new option for female patients who have started their period (typically 12 years old): ovarian cryopreservation. Here, doctors remove and freeze one of the ovaries. In the future, the ovary may be re-implanted and then “jump-started” to begin producing eggs again. It sounds like science fiction, but the procedure has been successful in older women. As part of an ongoing research program with the national Oncofertility Consortium, CHOC now offers this option to AYA patients.
“These young girls may only need to think about fertility 10 years from now, but in that time the technology will improve, and re-implantations will be even more successful,” says Dr. Sender. “What we know is that we have this brief moment before we start chemotherapy to preserve a patient’s fertility. We are very excited to be participating in this cutting-edge research, and I believe it will become a major part of our survivor program.”
To find out more about the oncofertility program at CHOC, please call 714-456-8025.
Add comment June 17th, 2010
Did you know CHOC Children’s has a “Hello Hospital” program designed to help children and parents learn what to expect when a child is scheduled for a procedure or surgery at CHOC?
Through a tour, a Recreation Therapist/Child Life Specialist will introduce future patients and their families to the hospital environment, procedures, and equipment with the goal of reducing the child’s anxieties.
CHOC understands that the experience of your child undergoing surgery can be stressful. The Hello Hospital program provides a non-threatening way for children to become familiar with CHOC before hospitalization. To learn more, click here: http://www.choc.org/patients/index.cfm?id=P00136
Add comment May 25th, 2010
Born at 25 weeks, weighing only 1 pound, 14 ounces, baby Talan was admitted into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at CHOC Children’s. A few weeks later his mother, Mari, learned that he had necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a gastrointestinal disease common in some premature babies. Mari soon learned that faith and trust in CHOC’s NICU team would make all the difference in their journey home…
Read their story and the many other remarkable stories that happen at CHOC every day: http://www.choc.org/stories/story_detail.cfm?sid=145
For more information about the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at CHOC, please click here: http://www.choc.org/nicu/index.cfm?id=P00532
Add comment January 20th, 2010
As a newborn Andrew was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a type of blood and bone marrow cancer. Treatment at CHOC Children’s saved his life. Read his story and find out how you can send a message of hope to patients like Andrew this holiday season: http://www.choc.org/giving/index.cfm?id=P00520&wt.mc_id=andrew_blog
Add comment December 9th, 2009
November is National Prematurity Awareness Month, calling attention to the half a million babies born prematurely in this country each year. These fragile newborns require specialized care in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
CHOC Children’s NICU is staffed by a team of neonatologists and other experts with the skill and the cutting-edge technology needed to save babies as tiny as one pound. The unit – the largest in Orange County – is also focused on family-centered care, encouraging parents to partner with the clinical staff in treating and caring for these smallest of patients. To learn more about CHOC’s NICU, watch some vidoes, featuring CHOC neonatologist Tony Soliman, MD., on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/CHOCChildrens.
Add comment November 11th, 2009
CHOC Children’s is excited to announce the recent launch of the CHOC Children’s Down Syndrome Program—An Alliance with the Down Syndrome Association of Orange County. The new program will focus on diagnosing and treating the complex medical aspects of Down syndrome, and provide patients with comprehensive, coordinated specialty care.
The program was created to help fill an unmet need for coordinated medical care in this high-risk population. According to Lanny Hardy, executive director of the Down Syndrome Association of Orange County, until now, there hasn’t been a medical program in Orange County that focuses entirely on the serious medical conditions in children with Down syndrome.
The clinic is located at CHOC Children’s Neurology Center at 1120 W. La Veta, Suite 125, located across the street from CHOC’s main hospital building. For more information, please call 714-512-3609 or email downsyndrome@choc.org.
Add comment November 9th, 2009
Children from Orange County’s coastal communities no longer need to travel to the CHOC Children’s campus in Orange for quality pediatric subspecialty care. CHOC has collaborated with Hoag Hospital to provide these specialized services much closer to home — at the new Hoag Health Center-Newport Beach!
By bringing these outpatient services to the brand-new, state-of-the-art Hoag Health Center, CHOC is expanding county-wide access to “highest-need” specialty care, including cardiology, diabetes and endocrine services, neurology and more.
CHOC Children’s Specialty Center, located at Hoag Health Center-Newport Beach, is now offering the following services in a convenient, family-centered care environment: Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Genetics, Hematology, Neurology, and Pulmonology. Radiology and laboratory services are also conveniently located onsite.
CHOC Children’s Endocrine and Diabetes Center is located inside the Mary and Dick Allen Diabetes Center at Hoag Health Center-Newport Beach. The CHOC Endocrine and Diabetes Center provides leading-edge care for diabetes and endocrine disorders. The comprehensive program includes education and support services for children and their families. The Allen Diabetes Center is also working with CHOC and several local community agencies to support pediatric obesity prevention and sponsor diabetes prevention activities.
Additionally, the UrgiKids pediatric urgent care center will relocate to the CHOC Children’s Specialty Center at Hoag Health Center-Newport Beach later this year. Currently, services are provided at Hoag Health Center-Costa Mesa.
Fore more information, please visit www.choc.org and go to Programs & Services.
Add comment November 9th, 2009
Not all heroes don capes, but around here, they do wear lab coats and scrubs! One of them is Dr. Sender, the medical director of the CHOC Children’s Cancer Institute. Read this incredible story highlighting his dedication and compassion, and you’ll see why he’s a hero in my book:
Shaun Tanner, a 6-foot, 250-pound 18-year-old, stood out on the oncology floor while being treated by Dr. Sender and the team for a rare sarcoma cancer. He loved CHOC – the kids, nurses and doctors, but hated the white walls in his hospital room and often commented that there was not much for someone his age to do in a children’s hospital, where he would benefit from aggressive pediatric protocols.
While Dr. Sender was hanging Shaun’s stem cells in preparation for his stem cell transplant in 2002, he promised the young man that he would create a teen environment and program at CHOC. Shaun lost his brave battle to cancer later that year, but Dr. Sender never forgot his promise. He created the Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Program as part of the CHOC Cancer Institute, and recently helped celebrate the completion of the new AYA wing on the existing cancer floor. The wing includes three new patient rooms with individual televisions and PlayStations, in addition to the usual patient amenities; teen room with iPod docks and PlayStations; Hope Room, a resource area for patient/family use; school room; playroom; family lounge; staff lounge; conference room for multidisciplinary treatment planning; and storage space.
Shaun’s family was there for the celebration of the wing – they helped raise funds for it, and his dad commented that Shaun would have thought the new addition was “sweet.”
I am sure they would agree with me in calling Dr. Sender a hero!
In additon to the Tanners and their foundation Hugs from Shaun, I want to thank the other supporters of the new AYA wing: Anaheim Ducks, John McQuade, Weingart Foundation, Ralphs/Food 4 Less, Catherine Scrafield, OC Shoot for a Cure, Doris Covelli-Freitz, Kenneth and Eileen Norris Foundation and Allen Charitable Lead Trust.
Add comment June 9th, 2009
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