How are pediatric tumors being standardized and treated?

Malignant tumors in children are still one of the major causes of death in childhood. Although the overall prognosis of pediatric tumors has been greatly improved through the unremitting efforts of several generations, the long-term outcome of malignant mid- to late-stage tumors is still unsatisfactory. Compared with adult tumors, pediatric tumors have their own rules and characteristics in diagnosis and treatment due to different disease spectrum and growth and development of children, and the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric tumors are more complicated than those of adults. Especially, the complexity of pediatric malignant tumor diagnosis and treatment has been generally recognized. Due to the limitation of knowledge and clinical experience, it is obviously impossible to obtain the ideal prognosis by single clinical department or even single specialist alone, and the concept has become obsolete. Multi-specialty joint diagnosis and treatment has been commonly advocated and emphasized in the last decade or so. Shanghai Xinhua Hospital was the first one to implement the multidisciplinary joint diagnosis and treatment model of pediatric tumor in China and has gradually matured and improved, and the treatment effect of pediatric malignant tumor has been significantly improved in recent years. As an important component of the collaborative group, the Department of Pediatric Oncology Surgery plays an important role in the standardized diagnosis and treatment of pediatric malignant solid tumors. The form of multi-specialty collaborative group is composed of physicians from Department of Pediatric Oncology Surgery, Department of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, Department of Radiology, Department of Pediatric Pathology and Pediatric Radiotherapy, and Department of Pediatric Isotope Therapy. Regular regular joint discussions are held every week for all new patients and those who need coordination among specialties during the course of the disease to decide on diagnosis, staging, treatment plan and handover and follow-up of patients among specialties. The multidisciplinary collaboration makes the diagnosis and treatment of children’s malignant tumors more standardized Because the tumor collaborative group is composed of physicians from different specialties, the diagnosis and treatment plan is regularly modified according to the international trend and their own experience, and the diagnosis and treatment are carried out according to the same standard within each specialty, and regular joint discussions are held to ensure the standardization of the diagnosis and treatment, so that children can get the best treatment plan and avoid the difference in the understanding of the same tumor between different specialties or the difference in the understanding of the same tumor between physicians. It avoids the difference in diagnostic standards and treatment due to the different understanding of the same tumor by different specialties or the difference in the understanding of the same tumor among different physicians. The staging is more precise due to the joint discussion among different specialties, which prevents low-risk patients from receiving too strong treatment that affects the quality of long-term survival or high-risk patients from receiving too weak treatment that affects the cure rate. This allows children to receive services that truly represent the hospital’s standard of care. The multidisciplinary collaboration ensures the continuity and effectiveness of treatment From the work of the oncology team for more than one year, one of its biggest advantages is to ensure the continuity and effectiveness of treatment and reduce the contradiction and conflict between different treatment methods. Since the pediatric oncology surgeons are involved in the discussion of tumor diagnosis, staging and treatment plan from the beginning, it ensures that biopsy is provided at the best time to surgically remove the tumor or operate again, avoiding blind exploration and inappropriate surgical choices at inappropriate times. Multi-specialty collaboration in joint standardized diagnosis and treatment also places high demands on the management in the treatment of malignant solid tumors in children, which has important clinical significance.