Department of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation - Memorial Bahcelievler Hospital Istanbul

About the Department of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at Memorial Bahcelievler Hospital Istanbul

The Department of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at the Memorial Bahçelievler Hospital Istanbul offers high-precision diagnostics and effective treatment of the full range of blood diseases and cancers in children of all age groups. The department also successfully performs bone marrow transplantation, which is one of the most effective treatment methods for hematopoietic cancer. To provide comprehensive medical care for young patients with cancer, the department's specialists cooperate closely with doctors of other specialties, including pediatric surgeons, orthopedists, neurosurgeons, ophthalmologists, otolaryngologists, etc. The progressive medical and technical base, as well as high professionalism of the department's doctors, make it possible to accurately diagnose pathological processes in the child's body, and achieve a complete cancer cure or long-term remission, even in complex clinical cases. The Chief Physician of the department is Prof. Dr. med. Muge Gokce.

The department's specialists most often treat such pathologies as leukemia, brain tumors, lymphomas, kidney and adrenal tumors, soft tissue and bone tumors, eye tumors (especially retinoblastoma). For the treatment of malignant diseases in children, the same methods are used as in adults – surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, antibody therapy, bone marrow transplantation and other modern techniques.

The team of the department's hematologists also admits young patients with benign pathologies of the hematopoietic system. Particular attention is paid to the treatment of iron deficiency and B12-deficiency anemia, structural and acquired aplastic anemias, thalassemia and hemophilia.

It is worth highlighting the unique competencies of the department's medical team in the field of bone marrow transplantation in children. The department has advanced infrastructure for the procedure, all hygiene and safety standards are met in order to avoid complications after treatment (for example, infectious lesions). The essence of therapeutic manipulation consists in harvesting hematopoietic stem cells from the bone marrow, peripheral blood or umbilical cord blood of newborns and their transfer into the child's body just like blood transfusion. The department performs both autologous and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. In the first case, the patient's own stem cells are used for transplantation. As a rule, autologous stem cell transplantation is not performed immediately after harvesting the donor material. The doctors place the cells into the DMSO solution, after which they freeze them in tanks with nitrogen and store them until transplantation. Frozen stem cells are thawed in special tanks with hot water just before the transplantation, and then injected intravenously, like during the blood transfusion. In allogeneic bone marrow transplantation, the doctors use donor stem cells that can be obtained from related or unrelated donors. Preparation is required before bone marrow transplantation. The child receives several courses of chemotherapy (in the case of autologous transplantation), and drug therapy is prescribed. After the transplantation, the child needs thorough monitoring. The department's doctors regularly assess the treatment result with the help of complete blood count, imaging tests, and functional diagnostics of internal organs.

The department's range of medical services includes:

• Hematology
  • Diagnostics and treatment of malignant blood diseases
    • Leukemias
    • Myelodysplastic syndrome
    • Hodgkin lymphoma
    • Non-Hodgkin lymphomas
  • Diagnostics and treatment of benign blood diseases
    • Aplastic anemia
    • Thalassemia
    • Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria
    • Fanconi anemia
    • Sickle cell anemia
    • Severe combined immunodeficiency
    • Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome
    • Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis
    • Kostmann syndrome
    • Chronic granulomatous disease
• Oncology
  • Diagnostics and treatment of solid malignant tumors
    • Neuroblastoma
    • Tumors of soft tissues and bones (for example, Ewing's sarcoma)
    • Brain tumors (for example, medulloblastoma)
    • Germ cell tumors
    • Kidney tumors (for example, Wilms' tumor)
    • Eye tumors (for example, retinoblastoma)
• Bone marrow transplantation
  • Autologous bone marrow transplantation
  • Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation
• Other medical services