Blood Disorders Center

Pediatric blood disorders include a wide range of conditions that affect red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, as well as blood proteins related to bleeding and clotting disorders. Some of these conditions are inherited and passed down from parents who carry the abnormal (mutated) gene. Others are acquired.

Children with blood disorders are treated through the Blood Disorders Center at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, an integrated pediatric hematology and oncology partnership between Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children's Hospital.

Our multidisciplinary approach to care ensures personalized management plans that meet the medical, physical, emotional, and informational needs of each hematology patient and family. Our hematology team integrates expertise from:

• Highly skilled and experienced pediatric hematologists, pediatric hematology nurse practitioners, and nurses
• Experts from every pediatric medical subspecialty, including immunologists and hematopathologists (pathologists specializing in childhood blood disorders), among others
• Social workers, child life specialists, psychologists, and clinical dietitians who provide supportive care before, during, and after treatment

Types of Blood Disorders We Treat

Red blood cell and iron disorders

• Red blood cell disorders (overview)
• Anemia (overview)
• Congenital dyserythropoietic anemia
• Congenital sideroblastic anemia
• G6PD deficiency
• Hemochromatosis
• Hemolytic disease of the newborn
• Hemolytic anemia
• Iron deficiency anemia
• Iron-refractory iron deficiency anemia (IRIDA)
• Megaloblastic anemia (including pernicious anemia)
• Pyruvate kinase (PK) deficiency
• Sickle cell disease
• Spherocytosis
• Thalassemia

White blood cell disorders

• White blood cell disorders (overview)
• Cyclic neutropenia
• Severe congenital neutropenia (Kostmann syndrome)
• Chronic granulomatous disease
• Leukocyte adhesion deficiency
• Myeloperoxidase deficiency

Bone marrow failure syndromes

• Aplastic anemia
• Congenital amegakaryocytic thrombocytopenia
• Diamond-Blackfan anemia
• Dyskeratosis congenita
• Fanconi anemia
• Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)
• Pearson syndrome
• Severe congenital neutropenia (Kostmann syndrome)
• Shwachman-Diamond syndrome
• Thrombocytopenia absent radius

Bleeding disorders

• Hemophilia
• Hypofibrinogenemia and dysfibrinogenemia
• Platelet function disorders
• Thrombocytopenia
• von Willebrand disease

Thrombosis and anticoagulation disorders

• Antithrombin deficiency
• Factor V Leiden
• Protein C deficiency
• Protein S deficiency
• Prothrombin gene mutation
• Stroke
• Thrombosis

Autoimmune blood cell disorders

• Autoimmune hemolytic anemia
• Evans syndrome
• Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP)

Other blood disorders

• Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs)
• Polycythemia

Specialized Treatment Programs for Childhood Blood Disorders

• Bone Marrow Failure and Myelodysplastic Syndrome Page
• Boston Hemophilia Center
• Platelet Function Disorders Program
• Rare Anemia and Iron Disorders Program
• Sickle Cell Disease Program
• Thalassemia Program
• Thrombosis and Anticoagulation Program

Please visit the Boston Children’s Hospital website to learn more about our Blood Disorders Center, including information about:

• Our pediatric hematologists
• Conditions we treat
• Specialized treatment programs
• Blood disorder clinical trials