Childhood Cancers & Blood Disorders We Treat

At Stephen D. Hassenfeld Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, your child receives advanced care from a medical team committed to meeting all of his or her medical needs.

Many of our doctors, part of Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, are internationally known experts in their fields who have been responsible for major advances in the treatment of childhood cancers and blood disorders. Our physical therapists, neuropsychologists, social workers, nutritionists, and nurse practitioners are members of the team working to treat your child’s illness and manage any side effects he or she may experience.

We offer treatment for the following types of cancer and blood disorders.

Leukemia and Lymphoma

Children who have been diagnosed with leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma receive the most effective treatments, delivered in accordance with strict scientific guidelines.

The types of leukemia we treat include the following:

  • acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of cancer in children
  • acute myeloid leukemia, which causes the body to make abnormal blood cells
  • chronic myelogenous leukemia, a slower-growing form of leukemia
  • chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, which results from the creation of too many white blood cells
  • juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, a rare form of the disease in which cancer cells spread widely

Our doctors are focused on developing new therapies for the most common tumor found in children, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We conduct clinical trials for patients with leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Brain and Spinal Cord Tumors

Our doctors are at the forefront of research and treatment of brain and spinal cord tumors, the second most common form of childhood cancer.

The childhood brain and spinal cord tumors we treat include the following:

  • atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor, which causes cancer cells to grow in the tissues of the brain
  • childhood craniopharyngioma, rare tumors found at the base of the brain near the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus
  • choroid plexus tumors, which block the flow of cerebrospinal fluid and cause headaches and increased pressure around the brain
  • ependymoma, a cancer of the cells that make cerebrospinal fluid
  • germ cell tumors
  • high-grade and low-grade gliomas
  • primitive neuroectodermal tumors

Our medical investigators are leading research in personalized, tumor-specific treatments. Radiation therapy, when needed, is available at NYU Langone’s Perlmutter Cancer Center.

Blood Disorders

Our team is led by doctors who have performed extensive research about several types of blood disorders, including hemophilia and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), and who have developed screening tools that can detect blood disorders in newborns. We also help manage the long-term symptoms that come with blood disorders.

Conditions we treat include the following:

  • aplastic anemia, which inhibits the body’s ability to make enough new blood cells
  • blood clots and clotting disorders
  • Cooley’s anemia, the most common severe form of thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder
  • Hemophilia and von Willebrand disease, which can cause excessive bleeding or bruising
  • histiocytic disorders, a group of conditions that cause an overproduction of white blood cells that leads to organ damage and tumor formation
  • ITP, which can cause easy bruising and bleeding
  • sickle cell disease, an inherited disorder that can lead to pain and affects the way blood moves through the body

Bone and Soft Tissue Tumors

Our experts lead research into bone and soft tissue tumors and have special expertise in novel techniques, including those designed to preserve joint and limb function. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy, if necessary, are used in the treatment of these tumors.

We specialize in the following childhood sarcomas:

  • Ewing sarcoma, a cancer of the legs, arms, feet, hands, chest, pelvis, spine, or skull; and the soft tissue of the trunk, arms, legs, head and neck, and abdominal cavity
  • osteosarcoma, which occurs in the cells that create new bone tissue
  • rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer found in muscle, tendons, cartilage, and bone
  • synovial sarcoma, a cancer that forms in the tissues around the joints in the arms or legs, but may also form in the trunk, head, or neck

Neurofibromatosis

In people with neurofibromatosis (NF), tumors grow in different parts of the nervous system. We treat children and adults with all forms of the disease, including NF1, NF2, and schwannomatosis, through our Comprehensive Neurofibromatosis Center. We bring together neurologists, neuro-oncologists, otolaryngologists, neurosurgeons, and pediatric oncologists who create care plans and conduct clinical trials as part of the NF Clinical Trials Consortium.

Other Types of Childhood Tumors

The Stephen D. Hassenfeld Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders also specializes in treating other types of cancer specific to children, rare cancers, and conditions normally seen in adults that occasionally occur in children as well.

We treat children with the following conditions:

  • hepatoblastoma, a form of liver cancer that typically affects young children
  • melanoma, the most common form of skin cancer in children
  • neuroblastoma, a cancer that forms in the immature nerve cells of infants and children
  • retinoblastoma, a cancer of the light-sensitive layers of nerve tissue at the back of the eye
  • testicular and ovarian germ cell tumors
  • Wilms tumor, which can occur in one or both kidneys and is the most common form of kidney cancer in children