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In addition to giving families and caregivers as much information as possible, it is critical that we continue to collect information on PPB.
We ask all families and physicians who use our information to allow us to collect data on every child with PPB. See Registry Enrollment Every time we receive an inquiry, we will ask to follow the patient.
We collect three kinds of material on PPB patients:
- clinical data on the events of a child’s experience with PPB and its treatment.
- specimens for scientific investigation. The PPB Registry has established a Tissue Bank in St Louis. Please consider sending material for scientific investigation. These specimens would most often be pieces of tissue removed from the patient at the time of surgery, and thus represent no additional “invasion” or difficulty for the patient.
- Genetic
Study : When there is evidence of familial childhood cancer, we request blood samples from patients or families. Whenever this seems worthwhile, we will explain in detail the purpose for the request.
Families and caregivers usually want to help us with this, but they have very immediate priorities in caring for their child and their patients, respectively. Sending information to this Registry is a lower priority. We believe it is our responsibility to persist in trying to collect data.
Patient’s Rights: There is another significant issue when collecting medical data - the protection of patient’s rights. Hospitals and physicians are extremely cautious about releasing medical data; many safeguards are in place. Each hospital has an Institutional Review Board (IRB) which looks at every research activity to make sure that patients are not exploited and that their privacy is protected. We never disclose a patient’s or family’s identity or location, but of course we do have to collect data patient by patient. In the information we release (in publications or in response to inquiries to this Registry), we refer to patients only by their age and sex.
On this website, we provide Consent Forms for participation in the data collection efforts of the PPB Registry. We ask that families help us by printing out these Forms and sending copies to us and by giving copies to their physicians. We attempt to facilitate research by having families directly advocate for collection of data on their child with PPB. We ask for your help.
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