Q: Magazine Issue 1 Feb. 2020 | Page 3

SHORT ANSWER
Advances and Answers in Pediatric Health
and Robin Deterding , MD , each of whom is about to perform an
the esophagus , Dr . Friedlander
finds he needs to build
A TURNKEY KIT

A Bright Idea
anesthesia-based procedure with a respective scope . Dr . Friedlander , who traditionally uses an endoscope , fiddles with the bronchoscope and wonders aloud , “ If we could get a kid to swallow this , could we use it to perform an unsedated endoscopy ?”
That idea sparks what ultimately becomes a fruitful study . As it turns
something more specific .
With additional support
from Dr . Deterding , Medical
Director for the Children ’ s
Hospital Colorado Center for
Innovation , Dr . Friedlander and
his partners form a company ,
Triple Endoscopy Inc ., and
begin to develop what they call
a turnkey kit for hospitals : a
scope , virtual reality goggles
to entertain the patient
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SCOPE
VR GOGGLES
GASTROENTEROLOGY
Pediatric gastrointestinal
doctor Joel Friedlander , DO ,
sits in an operating room with
three of his coworkers , Emily
DeBoer , MD ; Jeremy Prager , MD ;
out , unsedated endoscopy is a quicker procedure at a fraction of the cost of sedated endoscopy , and both parents and kids prefer it . But because bronchoscopes aren ’ t technically made for
during the procedure , and the
software system that ties both
of those pieces together . That
kit is on track to hit the market later this year . •
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SOFTWARE SYSTEM

Improving Survival in Childhood Cancer

CANCER
Researchers know intensified postinduction therapy improves survival in children with high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia , or ALL . But does it also improve outcomes for those with standard-risk ALL ? The answer is yes for some patients . That ’ s according to recently published data from a high-profile study by Children ’ s Oncology Group , which included more than 5,300 patients , that show a 6-year overall survival rate exceeding 95 %.
Led by Kelly Maloney , MD , program leader for leukemia and lymphoma at Children ’ s Hospital Colorado , this is the largest clinical trial conducted to date of children with standard risk ALL — the most common form of childhood cancer . All patients received a 3-drug induction with dexamethasone , vincristine and pegaspargase and were then classified as standard-risk low , standard-risk average or standard-risk high , with researchers administering different treatments for each group in this randomized study .
Of note are the 635 patients classified as standard-risk high who experienced particularly good outcomes with an overall survival rate of 93 % despite their poorer risk factors when they received fully augmented therapy . •
Pediatric oncologist and hematologist Kelly Maloney , MD , program leader for leukemia and lymphoma at Children ’ s Colorado .
Check out the next edition of Q : for a more in-depth look at Dr . Maloney ’ s work .
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