The Rare Tumors program is committed to providing exceptional care for children with uncommon cancerous conditions, such as germ-cell tumors, retinoblastoma and colorectal cancer. We offer the latest therapies and clinical trials and provide access to pediatric experts with extensive experience treating children with rare cancers.
About the Program
Certain types of childhood cancer are very uncommon. At Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, we are committed to providing exceptional care for children with rare cancerous conditions, such as germ-cell tumors, retinoblastoma and colorectal cancer.
Our Rare Tumors Program offers the latest therapies and clinical trials and provides access to pediatric experts with extensive experience treating children with rare cancers. Your child will be treated by some of the world's most experienced pediatric oncologists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and internationally recognized pediatric subspecialists at Boston Children's Hospital.
Your child's core care team includes pediatric oncologists, radiotherapists, surgeons, pathologists, radiologists, nurses, and psychosocial and physical therapy specialists, among many others.
We are New England's Phase I referral center for the Children's Oncology Group, enabling us to offer clinical trials unavailable at other regional centers.
Our director, Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo, MD, is chair of the Boston Children's Hospital Oncology Group Rare Tumors Committee.
We provide long-term treatment and childhood cancer survivor support through Dana-Farber's David B. Perini, Jr. Quality of Life Clinic.
We treat children with the following conditions:
- adrenocortical cancer
- colorectal cancer
- endodermal sunis tumor
- ganglioneuroblastoma
- germ-cell tumors
- germ-cell tumor of the ovary
- germ-cell tumor of the testis
- hepatoblastoma
- hepatocellular carcinoma
- liver cancer
- melanoma
- nasopharyngeal cancer
- retinoblastoma
- seminoma
- Sertoli-Leydig cell tumor
- thyroid cancer
Our Treatment Approach
Our physicians are focused on family-centered care: From your first visit, you'll work with a team of professionals who are committed to supporting all of your family's physical and psychosocial needs.
Through Dana-Farber/Boston Children's, a 60-year partnership between Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children's Hospital, children receive individualized care to treat every aspect of their condition from an expert team of subspecialists, including:
- pediatric oncologists
- surgeons
- radiation oncologists
- pathologists
- radiologists
- ophthalmologists
Other pediatric care providers, including other subspecialists, nutritionists, physical and occupational therapists, psychologists and social workers, are available for consultation, whenever they are needed.
We consider you and your child integral parts of the care team and not simply recipients of care. You and your team will work together to customize a plan of care for your child.
Children treated in the Rare Tumors Program benefit from the work of our experienced basic, translational and clinical researchers, who study the scientific causes of rare cancers to discover new treatment options.
Survivorship and long-term care
Like all patients who were treated with chemotherapy and/or radiation, survivors of rare tumors may be at risk of developing health problems later in life.
To help patients monitor their overall health after treatment is completed, we encourage children and adolescents to continue long-term care through Dana-Farber's David B. Perini Jr. Quality of Life Clinic.
The Treatment Team
Our staff of compassionate specialists includes pediatric oncologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, radiologists and ophthalmologists. Our physicians are focused on family-centered care. From your first visit, you'll work with a team of professionals who are committed to supporting all of your family's physical and psychosocial needs.
- Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo, MD, director of the Rare Tumors Program
Rodriguez-Galindo is a hematologist oncologist, medical director of Pediatric Oncology Clinical Trials, and a program leader in Experimental Therapeutics.
- Kimberly J. Davies, MD
Davies is a pediatric hematologist oncologist with expertise in the treatment of hepatoblastomas (tumors of the liver). She is also an assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
- Lindsay Frazier, MD
Frazier is a pediatric hematologist oncologist and investigator who specializes in the treatment of pediatric germ-cell tumors. Frazier's research focuses on three main areas: 1) adolescent behaviors that increase the risk of cancer (e.g., diet, tobacco and alcohol consumption), 2) cancer prevention strategies, and 3) treatment of pediatric germ-cell tumors. She is also an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
- Jennifer Mack, MD, MPH
Mack is a pediatric oncologist who specializes in the treatment of head, neck and skullbase tumors, and palliative care. She is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.
- Karen J. Marcus, MD
Marcus specializes in pediatric oncology and radiation oncology. She is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and co-chair of Pediatric Oncology Institutional Review Board.
- Darren B. Orbach, MD, PhD
Orbach is a pediatric radiologist specializing in neuroradiology and vascular abnormalities. He is director of neurointerventional radiology at Boston Children's Hospital. He is also an assistant professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School.
- Reza Rahbar, DMD, MD, FACS
Rahbar is director of the Center for Aero-Digestive Disorders and co-director of the Center for Head, Neck, and Skullbase Tumors. He is also an associate professor of otology and laryngology at Harvard Medical School.
- Robert C. Shamberger, MD
Shamberger is Boston Children's Hospital's Chief of Surgery and has expertise in surgical oncology. He is a professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on the treatment of neuroblastoma, Ewing's sarcoma, Wilms' tumor, and inflammatory bowel disease.
- Deborah K. VanderVeen, MD
VanderVeen is an ophthalmologist who specializes in the treatment of retinoblastoma and other non-malignant pediatric eye disorders.
- Christopher Weldon, MD, PhD
Weldon is a pediatric general surgeon with expertise in pediatric oncology and surgical critical care. His research focuses on chemotherapy resistance in solid tumors. He is also an instructor at Harvard Medical School.
Clinical Research
Dana-Farber/Boston Children's is a world leader in opening new avenues of translational research, bringing laboratory advances to the bedside and doctor's office as quickly as possible. All senior medical staff members of the Rare Cancers Program participate in clinical research activities.
The main objective of our research program is to improve the understanding and treatment of rare cancers and develop new ways to treat children with these conditions.
Children's Oncology Group
Dana-Farber/Boston Children's is the New England Phase I Center of the Children's Oncology Group.
The Children's Oncology Group is a consortium of cancer treatment centers across the United States, Canada, and other countries, that conduct studies of pediatric cancers. Our participation in the Children's Oncology Group gives children with rare tumors unparalleled access to the newest clinical trials.
Children with progressive or recurrent tumors may be eligible for experimental therapies through these groups, or through one of our independent clinical investigators.
Survivorship and long-term follow-up care
The long-term outcome for children with rare cancerous tumors depends on a variety of factors, including the type of tumor and whether the disease has spread (metastasized) by the time the child is diagnosis. Our research continues to help us understand the causes of cancer so we can develop more targeted, effective therapies.
Contact Us
Referring physicians: 617-632-5508 or 1-888-Pedi-Onc (733-4662)
New patients and second opinions
We understand a cancer diagnosis is extremely difficult to cope with. We are available to offer a consultation or second opinion for your child.
If your child has been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, please contact our program at 888-PEDI-ONC (888-733-4662).
To help us conduct a precise evaluation, it's important we receive a full summary of your child's initial diagnosis. This includes any laboratory or pathology reports, any x-ray, radiographic or MRI images and a list of any previous treatments your child may have received. Please have as much of the following information gathered as possible when you call or bring it with you to your appointment:
Patient summary
- your child's date of birth
- your address
- parent or guardian contact information
- insurance information
Complete clinical summary
- physician's name and contact information
- diagnosis, or working diagnosis, and list of presenting symptoms
- MRI/CAT scan films
- pathology slides and reports
- operative note, if surgery was performed
- radiation therapeutic summary, if your child had radiation
- comprehensive list of previous chemotherapeutic agents, with dates and doses, if your child had chemotherapy
Mailing addresses
Boston Children's Hospital
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
450 Brookline Avenue
Boston, MA 02215