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MONTREAL - A study of critical care among children with cancer or who have had bone marrow transplants has revealed that patients at the Toronto Sick Children's Hospital have an eight-fold better chance of survival than counterparts in other hospitals.
The study showed that when children suffering from cancer, or who have received bone marrow transplants, become ill with infections such as pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis or platelet problems during the recovery period, they stand a 40% chance of survival if they are transferred to the intensive care ward (ICU) as soon as they become ill.
This compares with a survival rate of only 5% in other major centres. Published studies have also shown a mortality rate of 95% to be standard.
Dr. Sam Shemie, education director of the department of critical care at Sick Kids, who along with two colleagues conducted the single-centre...