Critical Complications In Pediatric Oncology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplant, volume II

Book excerpt: Pediatric oncology and hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) patients with a critical illness are a particularly challenging population with a unique presentation, diagnosis, and management. One in every three to four children with cancer will require admission to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) during the course of their treatment. Providing optimum care for these patients involves dedicated multidisciplinary collaboration to provide timely and appropriate management. Onco-critical care is a growing field of expertise for the care of this high acuity patient population. Recent work in this field has focused on sepsis, respiratory complications, and multi-organ failure in HCT patients, demonstrating significantly higher morbidity and mortality compared to other critically ill pediatric patients. For the past decade, the HCT/oncology subgroup of the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI) Network has fostered both research and clinical collaborations between oncologists, transplanters, and critical care physicians with the goal to improve outcomes in critically ill oncology and HCT patients. Contributors to this Research Topic will be actively recruited from this network.