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Oncology

BC Children's Hospital works collaboratively with the BC Cancer and the Children's Oncology Group to provide recommendations for investigation, treatment and follow-up for children with cancer.
Resources

Flu vaccination guidelines

2023 Flu Vaccination Guidelines (PDF)

‎‎Fever +/- neutropenia is a medical emergency

Clinical pathway:

Practice Guidelines for Fever +/- Neutropenia patients (PDF)

Fever and neutropenia

Definition:

Fever: oral or temporal temperature ≥38.5°C or axillary temperature ≥ 38.0°C

Neutropenia: ANC <0.5 x 109/L


Triage:

We recommend that the BC Children's Clinical Pathway be followed and the recommendations for empiric antibiotic use be implemented. (Caveat: individual hospital infection control policy may dictate other treatment based on their own antibiotic sensitivity profile).


The treating pediatric oncologist (after hours, the oncologist on call) should be notified when a child on active anticancer therapy develops a fever and neutropenia.

 

Please notify BC Children's Hospital

Weekdays (8am-4pm):

Oncology Clinic: 604-875-2345 ext 7079

After hours, weekends, and stat holidays:

Oncologist on call: 604-875-2161


Fever, non-neutropenic patients:

All children with central lines require blood cultures with new febrile episodes. If the patient is clinically well, caregivers are reliable, and there are no focal infections requiring treatment, empiric antibiotic therapy is not required.

‎BC Children's resource web pages

BC Children's chemotherapy/biotherapy policies

Central line care


Community partners

A significant contribution to the successful treatment of children with cancer and blood disorders comes from adopting a multi-disciplinary team approach to patient care. One of the pediatric oncologists/hematologists is the primary physician responsible for directing the care of the child. This oncologist along with a nurse clinician and a social worker form the primary care team which liaises with the local community health care professionals.  

Community care teams

Many of our patients receive portions of their treatment in their local communities.  The following is a list of our community partners. 

Long-term follow-up guidelines

As new therapies are employed, our knowledge concerning the risks or recurrence and late effects of cancer and its treatment is changing. We have developed disease-specific long-term follow-up guidelines. These guidelines can be modified on an individual basis to provide optimum care for survivors.

Clinical tools

Additional survivorship guidelines can be found on the Children's Oncology Group website.


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