49 episodes listed below
Plain-language childhood cancer explanation, from inside the hospital.
Understanding Childhood Cancer With Dr Geoff turns childhood cancer care into careful, practical explanation. Across episodes on CAR T-cells, neuroblastoma, immune suppression, blood cultures, molecular profiling, MEK inhibitors, and minimal residual disease, Dr Geoff translates hospital language into parent-facing context.
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Understanding Childhood Cancer With Dr Geoff is a specialist medical podcast built around explanation, not spectacle. The subject is childhood cancer and leukaemia, with the emphasis on what parents and carers may hear inside a children's cancer unit. Dr Geoff takes clinical vocabulary seriously. Then he slows it down. CAR T-cells become a discussion of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, relapse, leukophoresis, specialised cell processing, access, funding, and which children are currently likely to need the therapy. Neuroblastoma is sorted through stage MS disease, liver and skin involvement, bone marrow details, age definitions, and the unusual possibility that some children may be watched rather than treated immediately. Immune suppression gets treated as a central fact of chemotherapy, not a side note. Fever is framed as urgent because neutrophils, lymphocytes, bacteria, fungi, viruses, and antibiotics all have a practical role in the risk picture. Blood cultures receive the same patient attention. The show explains why blood is taken carefully, why central lines matter, how culture bottles help detect bacteria, and why doctors want to identify both the organism and the right antibiotic. Research and consent are also part of the territory. In the PRISM episode, molecular profiling is described through tumour samples, blood samples, DNA testing, information sheets, participating hospitals, and the right of parents and children to decide about tissue samples. Drug episodes can become very technical. MEK inhibitors, trametinib, selumetinib, BRAF changes, neurofibromatosis type 1, low-grade gliomas, and plexiform neurofibromas all appear in the evidence window. The tone is direct and careful. It is not dry. Dr Geoff uses food analogies, hospital detail, local asides, and occasional jokes to keep dense material from turning into a lecture wall. The show is still medically serious and often confronting. Its value is the combination of precision and parent-facing translation, with repeated reminders that individual treatment advice belongs with the child's own oncology team.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants careful context around childhood cancer care, especially a parent, carer, nurse, doctor, or family member trying to understand treatment language. It also suits someone comfortable with detailed medical explanation rather than broad wellness talk.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by staying close to real childhood cancer decisions: fever protocols, blood cultures, relapse therapies, molecular profiling, consent, and drug classes. It explains complex medicine without pretending a podcast can replace a treating team.
Understanding Childhood Cancer with Dr Geoff. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
That fever warning has a neutrophil count behind it, and Dr Geoff lets you see why.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A measured guide to where CAR T cells fit when childhood leukaemia resists treatment or returns.
CAR T-cell treatment is framed here as a carefully targeted option for some children with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: those whose disease does not clear, keeps coming back, or returns after a transplant.
A clear guide to why Stage MS neuroblastoma can look worrying early while often carrying a very favourable outlook.
Stage MS neuroblastoma, formerly called stage 4S, is explained with useful care here. Dr Geoff McCowedge shows how a typically small primary tumour can spread to the liver, skin, or bone marrow while still behaving very differently from the high-risk disease seen in older…
A clear, practical account of why fever can become urgent during cancer treatment.
Immune suppression is framed as one of the practical realities of cancer treatment, with Dr Jeff McCowedge explaining why children with cancer or leukemia can become more exposed to infection.
A clear, practical update on CAR T-cell access, from cell collection to treatment funding in Australia.
A fancifully titled update on CAR T-cell therapy settles into a useful account of what changed as the treatment became easier to access. Dr Geoff McHowage, a paediatric oncologist at the Children's Hospital at Westmead in Sydney, explains that Novartis has acquired the…
A clear, grounded review of why blood cultures matter when chemotherapy leaves children vulnerable to infection.
Blood cultures sit behind one of paediatric oncology's most urgent questions: when chemotherapy has weakened a child's immune defences, is a high fever being driven by bacteria in the bloodstream?
Brain science before it becomes a headline.
Dr Geoff McHowage talks with Dr Caroline Bateman about tisagenlecleucel, the CD19 CAR T-cell product called Kimriah, as it moves toward use at the Children's Hospital at Westmead.
Dr Geoff McCowedge, a paediatric oncologist at Children's Hospital at Westmead in Sydney, Australia, focuses on stage MS neuroblastoma, also called stage 4S.
["Jeff McCowedge, a children's cancer specialist at Children's Hospital at Westmead in Sydney, explains why treatment for childhood cancer and leukemia suppresses the immune system.", "He breaks the body's defenses into skin, mucosa, neutrophils, lymphocytes, and antibodies, then shows how chemotherapy, steroids, central lines, and poor nutrition weaken each layer.", "The episode gives concrete rules: neutrophils below 0.5 are severe neutropenia, a 38\u00b0C fever is an urgent call, and Bactrim or Cotrimoxazole is used to prevent Pneumocystis pneumonia.", "He also contrasts standard chemotherapy with bone marrow transplant care, where graft versus host disease and long-term immune suppressive drugs can force stricter isolation."]
CAR T-cells have moved from clinical trials to commercial availability as Novartis' Kymriah in multiple countries, including Australian centres.
Dr Geoff McEwage, a paediatric oncologist at the Children's Hospital in Westmead, explains why blood cultures matter for children with cancer or leukaemia who develop a fever.
Dr Geoff explains Australia’s PRISM trial, which compares tumour and normal blood DNA and RNA to identify abnormalities that could inform drug choices.
Dr Geoff McCowage explains how trametinib and selumetinib block MEK, a chemical in a growth pathway that can become stuck in the “on position” in cancer cells.
Dr Jeff McCowage of Understanding Childhood Cancer explains how minimal residual disease testing detects leukemia cells that microscopy can miss, including one cell among one million normal bone marrow cells.
A pediatric oncologist explains a recent study on genetic factors in childhood cancer for parents of affected children.
Dr Geoff explains personalized oncology for parents of children with cancer, focusing on analyzing tumors to find effective treatments.
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