Pediatric Cancer Expert Explains New Options for Children with Sarcomas [Video]

Newswise — LOS ANGELES (March 12, 2024) — Leo Mascarenhas, MD, MS, has an important message for parents whose children have been diagnosed with sarcoma, a type of cancer that develops in the bones or soft tissues.

“For many children, there are treatment options and even a cure,” said Mascarenhas, recently appointed as director of Pediatric Hematology & Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s and as medical director of the Sarcoma Program at Cedars-Sinai Cancer.

He recently spoke with the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom about the clinical care and research he will lead at Cedars-Sinai.

When a child is diagnosed, what is the most important thing for parents to know?

It’s critical patients receive care from an expert team with extensive knowledge in diagnosing and treating sarcomas. A multidisciplinary team is crucial to a patient’s outcome because these diseases are complex. A typical sarcoma diagnosis requires expertise from an oncologist, surgeon, radiation oncologist, pathologist, radiologist, and, nowadays, a molecular geneticist. All that information is used to …