Hospital 57357 organized the first annual international conference on challenges and updates of pediatric hematologic malignancies presided by Dr. Alaa El Haddad, Head of Hospital 57357’s pediatric oncology department. The conference lasted three days (Oct.6-Oct.8) and included a number of educational sessions related to the current practice and challenges in pediatric hematologic malignancies, infectious diseases, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, and cell therapy. It also included two workshops related to clinical nutrition and clinical pharmacy with special focus on practice in pediatric cancer patients. Attending the conference and leading the sessions were a stellar group of experts and distinguished speakers from different leading institutions in the U.S and in Egypt from Hospital 57357, Cairo university, Ain Shams university, and Alexandria university.
This meeting was a golden opportunity for professionals to explore breakthroughs in malignant hematology and to connect with national and international experts and exchange experiences in the field.
Throughout the 3 day meeting, malignant hematology was one of the main focuses of the sessions with discussions around acute lymphoblastic leukemia which is one of the most common malignancies in children. Different therapies of AML were also tackled including targeted and immune therapies as well as treatments for serious and relapsing cases. A distinctive session that focused on all topics related to Haploidentical stem cell transplant was also included and tackled a number of topics such as treating side effects of BMT, required tests to select the best donor to reduce failure incidences.
During the conference, discussions took place on the role of health economics and outcomes research in evidence-based decision-making, comparing results of different world pediatric lymphoma treatment protocols and ways of treating rare lymphoma cases.
With respect to clinical pharmacy, topics discussed included pharmaceutical compounding in pediatric oncology, how to get trusted medical information, advanced pediatric oncology pharmacy practice, and how to create a unit for drug compounding in a healthcare setting.
Presentations included also novel ways in the treatment of hemophilia, diagnosis and management of acute lymphoblastic leukemia ALL in down syndrome patients, the role of genes in management of ALL. As for clinical nutrition, workshops presented the role of clinical nutrition in treatment of children with cancer, guidelines for nutrition of cancer patients, principles of enteral and parenteral nutrition, challenges with GIT surgery, and the nutrition diet for BMT patients.
Dr. Emad Mousa, pediatric oncology consultant in 57357, spoke about lymphoma, what was done in 57357 lately and the application of two treatment protocols, the first was applied in USA, then Hospital 57357 changed it to a European treatment protocol with amazing results since March 2019. The protocol details and a comparison of treatment results between Egypt and Germany were presented during the conference. Dr. Mousa asserted that scientific exchange is very important to be acquainted with new findings about treatment and diagnosis of leukemia.
The conference sessions also included a presentation by Dr. Shadi Fadl from the Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, about Hodgkin lymphoma. Dr Scott Howard, from the USA outlined the reasons for non-survival in some cases of children with cancer in countries with middle income.
Through scientific exchange with major international centers and universities, Hospital 57357 pursues to improve and develop diagnostic and treatment methods in pediatric cancer, aiming to raise cure rates, to realize our vision of being a unique icon of change towards a cancer-free childhood.