OHSU Doernbecher is a national leader in care for pediatric cancers and blood disorders. We are proud to be part of OHSU's Knight Cancer Institute.

Your family will find:

• World-class experts who focus on cancer care for children and teens.
• A highly skilled team that works together for each patient.
• Doctors with advanced training in their specialties.
• Social workers and child life specialists to support your family’s well-being.
• Investigators on the leading edge of cancer research.
• Innovative tools and top-rated programs.
• Access to clinical trials to test promising treatments.

Learn more

Conditions we treat:

• See all childhood cancers we treat
• Solid tumors
• Leukemia
• Lymphoma
• Brain tumors

Resources and treatment:

• Diagnosis
• Treatment options
• Life after cancer
• Resources for patients and families
• Meet our team

Understanding pediatric cancer

It can be scary to learn that your child has cancer. But each child’s situation is different. Learning more about your child’s condition can help your family understand and cope with a cancer diagnosis.

Cancer is much rarer in children than in adults, and the most common childhood cancers are different from the most common adult cancers.

Treatment for cancer has improved. More than 80% of children with cancer can expect to survive five years or more after treatment. Survivors may have long-term side effects, so ongoing monitoring is important.

See answers to common questions about pediatric cancer.

Our excellence

Children have different treatment needs than adults. We offer the region’s only comprehensive center for childhood cancer and blood disorders.

• Doernbecher is the only children’s hospital in Oregon to offer CAR T-cell therapy, a groundbreaking immunotherapy treatment for childhood leukemia.
• We are home to one of the top children’s bone marrow transplant programs in the U.S. OHSU’s transplant team is the most experienced in Oregon. We have done more than 4,500 transplants, including more than 700 in children.
• Doernbecher has the only intraoperative (in surgery) MRI suite at a West Coast children’s hospital. This technology gives our expert neurosurgeons exceptional precision for removing childhood brain tumors.

Comprehensive care

We offer your child and family support from diagnosis through treatment and beyond. We get your input at every step, including on treatment plans and possible side effects. Your child will have access to advanced treatment options, plus clinical trials for many types of pediatric cancer.

At Doernbecher, we do more than treat your child’s condition. Our team supports your whole family:

• Hospital School Program
• Animal-assisted therapy
• Child Life Program
• Pediatric social workers
• Pediatric palliative care (Bridges Program)
• Childhood Cancer Survivorship Program
• Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology Program

Clinical trials and research

Our clinical researchers are pioneers in understanding and developing treatments for pediatric cancer. Our patients were part of the trial that resulted in Food and Drug Administration approval of a CAR T-cell therapy option for advanced leukemia.

Learn more about cancer clinical trials at OHSU.

Our clinical researchers have leadership roles in several national and international pediatric research organizations. Through these collaborations, we are finding new ways to treat and cure cancer.

• The Children’s Oncology Group is an international research organization supported by the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
• Therapeutic Advances in Childhood Leukemia & Lymphoma brings together top pediatric cancer research groups to find new drugs for leukemia and lymphoma.
• The Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium is a network of leading children’s hospitals that conduct clinical trials of brain tumor treatments.
• The Pediatric Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Consortium supports clinical trials for stem cell transplants and cellular therapies.
• OHSU is among the leaders of an ambitious national project, Beat AML. It aims to find new treatments for one of the deadliest forms of leukemia. OHSU also established the world’s largest collection of AML data to better understand and treat the disease.
• We partner with the Pape Family Foundation Pediatric Research Institute to offer the newest and most advanced treatments.