Clinical Care
Empowering pediatricians to provide mental health care
By late adolescence, up to 20 percent of children will have experienced impairing levels of anxiety, depression, and/or ADHD, the most common and treatable mental health conditions. But child behavioral health specialists are in chronic short supply with long wait lists. Massachusetts, for example, has nearly 300,000 youths with at least one diagnosable psychiatric disorder ... Read More about Empowering pediatricians to provide mental health care
Clinical Care
Expanding on a lifetime of heart care: The BACH Program
As more patients born with congenital heart disease (CHD) live well into adulthood and older age, there is an increasing demand for clinicians who understand their complex and unique needs. Since its inception more than 25 years ago, the Boston Adult Congenital Heart (BACH) Program has been a leader in adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) ... Read More about Expanding on a lifetime of heart care: The BACH Program
Patient Stories
Incredible Teddy: Thriving with CDH
Andi Lodico left for the hospital at 1 a.m., in labor with her second child. She didn’t return home for two months. Just a few weeks earlier, she and her husband, Phil, had been at a routine ultrasound appointment when they received some troubling news. Their baby, Teddy, appeared to have a rare and potentially ... Read More about Incredible Teddy: Thriving with CDH
Patient Stories
Josh finds recipe for success from endocrine-oncology team
As a chef in training who dreams of opening his own restaurant, Josh Gartland, 15, knows the importance of a good recipe. When it comes to the genetic disorder known as von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, Josh also knows the value of a good treatment plan, and experts in the Endocrine-Oncology Program at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center ... Read More about Josh finds recipe for success from endocrine-oncology team
Patient Stories
Living a full, active life with long QT syndrome
My older sister, Tanya, began having periodic fainting episodes when we were teenagers. The doctors were stumped, but my dad was determined to find out what was causing them. He knew it might mean the difference between life or death. Years earlier, my mom had similar fainting spells, which her doctors had said were seizures. ... Read More about Living a full, active life with long QT syndrome
Health and Parenting
What to consider when choosing a pediatric surgeon
As a parent or caregiver, it’s only natural for you to want the best for your child. But when you receive a diagnosis that requires surgery as part of treatment, how do you know what the “best” is? Here are five things to consider when you’re selecting a pediatric surgeon. Expertise Pediatric surgeons all have ... Read More about What to consider when choosing a pediatric surgeon
Patient Stories
Our SCID gene therapy journey
In just 18 months, our son Paul Gallagher has been through more than what most people go through in a lifetime. He was born on Nov. 10, 2017, with a tenacious spirit, yet without an immune system — meaning that the simplest infection was difficult to fight and a common cold was life threatening. His ... Read More about Our SCID gene therapy journey
Patient Stories
Care for stroke lets Matty just be a kid
Most adults might encourage kids to behave themselves, but Matthew Marino’s doctor wants to help him make mischief. “He told us that he loves when kids cause trouble and that he wants to help Matt cause trouble, too,” says his mother, Maura, of Dr. David Fogelman, a physiatrist in the Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center at ... Read More about Care for stroke lets Matty just be a kid
Research
Sweet! How C. difficile toxin A enters intestinal cells
Clostridiodes difficile infection has become a leading cause of severe, sometimes fatal diarrheal illness. It flourishes best in hospitals and long-term care facilities where people are on long-term antibiotic treatment, but it’s also an increasing problem in the community. Much of the damage from C. diff is caused by toxins the bacterium produces, which damage ... Read More about Sweet! How C. difficile toxin A enters intestinal cells
Research
A rare kidney tumor’s vulnerability, and a potential treatment
Andrew Hong, MD, a pediatric oncologist at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, has cared for a number of children who develop unusual, aggressive cancers. One teenager with a deadly kidney cancer called renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) left a particularly deep impression on him and his colleagues. “Seeing how quickly this patient succumbed to the disease ... Read More about A rare kidney tumor’s vulnerability, and a potential treatment