Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation PDF

Preface

"Children are not little adults." This much-overused expression characterizes the pride that pediatricians take in their specialized knowledge of the growing and developing human being. The quote is also an admonition to our adult medicine colleagues that specialized knowledge is required for the care of children with complex diseases and therapies, not simply a dosage adjustment for size. However, because of the general good health of most children, the pediatric specialties are inherently small. As a result, practitioners of such niche subspecialties as pediatric blood and marrow transplantation have in the past been required to depend on general texts written primarily for the care of adult transplant patients. Yet as all pediatric transplanters know, "children are not little adults." The diseases they encounter, their responses to treatment, and the types and relative risks of various complications are markedly different than in adults. Thus the time has come for a comprehensive text focused exclusively on the care of the pediatric hematopoietic stem-cell transplant patient.

The purpose of this work is to provide a focused, comprehensive and up-to-date reference work for those of us caring for pediatric BMT patients. Chapter topics have been chosen with particular respect to their relevance to pediatric hematopoietic stemcell transplantation and direction has been given to the authors to focus primarily on the pediatric aspects of disease and treatment, rather than to generate a broader treatment that includes adult issues. I have been most fortunate in assembling a group of distinguished and dedicated authors to contribute to this work. I am grateful for their hard work and hope that readers will find this text both enjoyable and informative.