The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
POGO Lecture Series 2011/2012

The Hospital for Sick Children held its 4th Annual SickKids Chemotherapy Update on July 11, 2011, which attracted 70 participants. POGO is pleased to have been able to support this important initiative.

Featured topics included:

• Introductions-Chemotherapy Primer
• Best of 2010:
  • Solid Tumor
  • NBL
  • Neuropsychology
  • Leukemia/Lymphoma
• Pharmacogenomics
• Round Table: Issues of Consent/Assent in Clinical Trials
• Workshops: Practical Pain and Symptom Management
• Drug Interactions

The Goals & Objectives for this education day were to:

• Review and apply evolving principles of chemotherapy and new agents in understanding treatment protocols for childhood cancers, anticipating and managing post-administration effects, and counseling patients and their families around their prescribed medications and effects.
• Examine the impact of individual patient genetics on prescribed chemotherapy regimens and supportive care.
• Appraise the multi-dimensional aspects of patient ASSENT for good clinical practice in the provision of therapy and recruitment to clinical trials of children with cancer.
• Debate the role for bone marrow transplantation in the care of children with non-malignant blood disorders and outline transplant considerations unique to this patient population.
• Develop a catalogue of practical symptom management options to optimize palliative care of children with cancer.
• Identify the roles and responsibilities of the interdisciplinary team members in the safe provision of chemotherapeutic agents to patients.