According to the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer, it is estimated that 19 million of people of both sexes and of all ages are diagnosed for malignancy each year (Global Cancer Observatory. https://gco.iarc.fr/; 1.09.2023). Among them, about 1.4 million (7.3%) are diagnosed for hematological malignancies. With respect to children, it is estimated that c.280,000 are diagnosed worldwide yearly for malignancy, including c.120,000 diagnosed for hematological malignancies. Leukemias, central nervous system tumors and lymphomas are the most frequent pediatric malignancies worldwide. Hematological malignancies account for c.43% of pediatric malignancies.

Childhood malignancies differ from those occurring in adults, but we all cooperate together to conquer these catastrophic diseases. Fifty years ago, medicine was faced with many almost untreatable diseases, but today we treat our patients at an international level, and we look forward to a future that will involve being ready to implement diagnostics at a molecular level, using liquid biopsy and artificial intelligence [1–3].

In pediatric hematology, the history of cure in acute lymphoblastic leukemia has become a paradigm of success in the field of oncology. Hematologists treating adult patients used to learn and adopt methods from pediatric oncology. On the other hand, with the continuous progress, the improved management of acute myeloid leukemia in adults today creates a platform for knowledge for pediatricians [4–6].

In 2023, pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia is the only malignancy in Poland with a cure rate higher than the European average [1]. The Gold September campaign has identified Childhood Cancer Awareness Month as an annual opportunity to create awareness of the impact of cancer in children and their families around the world.

This September 2023 issue of “Acta Haematologica Polonica” is dedicated to pediatric problems, and thereby, the journal is creating a memorial for children with hematological diseases.

The interdisciplinary impact and value of hematology should be underscored [7, 8]. In many aspects, achievements in hematology have preceded achievements in other disciplines, with the most obvious examples being the use of stem cells, monoclonal antibodies or targeted drugs. It is to be expected that chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) technology will be used also outside hematology in the future [3, 9].

With our everyday heroic work, we contribute to continuous progress in hematology and transfusion medicine, to improvements in patient care, longer survival, and better quality of life [2, 10]. This progress is inevitable. It is being documented in the scientific literature, and we participate in it every day, as we all are authors, readers and reviewers.

Authors’ contributions

JS — sole author.

Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Financial support

None.

Ethics

The work described in this article has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for experiments involving humans; EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments; Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals.

References