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

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

The Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation at the Memorial Sisli Hospital Istanbul offers the full range of diagnostic and therapeutic services for young patients with benign and malignant diseases of the hematopoietic system, solid neoplasms of various localization. The department's competence also includes autologous and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. To provide comprehensive treatment, pediatric oncologists cooperate closely with specialists in the field of pediatric surgery, orthopedics, neurosurgery, otolaryngology, ophthalmology and others. The diagnostics is carried out in cooperation with specialists from the Department of Radiology, which has state-of-the-art imaging equipment. In addition to high-quality medical service, the department provides both young patients and their parents with competent psychological care, the attending physicians also take care of the psychological state of the children. The department is one of the best in the area of its ​​specialization in Turkey and has an excellent reputation abroad. The Chief Physician of the department is Prof. Dr. med. Atilla Tanyeli.

The decisive factor in the treatment success is accurate diagnostics, which provides the doctors with detailed information about the type of tumor or blood malignancy, the stage of the malignant process, the location and size of solid neoplasms. When developing a treatment regimen, the age of the child and his general state of health are also taken into account.

The main treatment method for solid tumors in children and adults is surgery. The task of the surgeon is to radically remove the tumor. The surgical treatment is carried out using minimally invasive surgical techniques, which minimize the risk of postoperative complications and significantly accelerate the recovery process for young patients. In some cases, it is possible to perform surgical interventions with access through natural openings – the esophagus, the nasal passages. However, the doctors are not always able to destroy all malignant cells during surgery, so the treatment regimen can be supplemented with chemotherapy, targeted therapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy and other methods.

Chemotherapy is the basis of the treatment protocol for lymphomas, leukemias and retinoblastomas. For chemotherapy treatment, the department's specialists use the very latest drugs, which accumulate much faster in tumor cells and do not damage healthy cells. Thus, it is possible to reduce the number of chemotherapy sessions and relieve the child of unnecessary stress. In most cases, the drug is injected directly into the tumor, using a central catheter or port system. The doctors use progressive linear accelerators for radiation therapy, which allow them to carry out high-precision focusing of the maximum dose of radiation on the target area, without harming healthy surrounding tissues.

In the case of hematological malignancies in children, bone marrow transplantation can often be the only effective treatment. The department has an excellent medical and technical base for maximum safety and efficiency of the procedure. The essence of bone marrow transplantation is the extraction of donor material from the patient (autologous transplantation) or from a donor (allogeneic transplantation), after which it is processed. The purified bone marrow cells are injected into the child through the vascular access, after which the patient is isolated in a sterile box in order to prevent the development of infections, haemorrhage and other complications.

The department's range of medical services includes:

• Diagnostics and treatment of cancers in children
  • Head and neck malignancies
  • Brain malignancies
  • Eye malignancies (especially retinoblastoma)
  • Kidney and adrenal gland malignancies
  • Soft tissue and bone malignancies
• Diagnostics and treatment of malignant blood diseases in children
  • Leukemias
  • Myelodysplastic syndrome
  • Lymphomas
• Diagnostics and treatment of benign blood diseases in children
  • Anemias
    • Aplastic anemia
    • Fanconi anaemia
    • Iron deficiency anemia
    • Diamond-Blackfan anemia
  • Neutropenia
  • Thrombocytopenia
  • Thalassemia
  • Hemoglobinopathies
  • Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome
  • Kostmann's syndrome
• Diagnostics and treatment of other cancers and hematological diseases