Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center is Named the First Ever Level I Specialty Children’s Surgery Center in Oncology by the American College of Surgeons

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) has been recognized by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) for its commitment to providing optimal surgical care for children and adolescents. It is the first hospital in the nation to receive the ACS’ Children’s Surgery Verification (CSV) Quality Improvement Program Level I Specialty Children’s Center in Oncology designation. This distinction was developed to recognize highly specialized hospitals that specifically treat children and adolescent surgical patients with oncological diagnoses and related conditions.

“We are proud of the exceptional care provided at MSK and the positive outcomes we achieve for our pediatric and adolescent patients undergoing surgical procedures,” said J. Ted Gerstle, MD, Chief of the Pediatric Surgery Service at MSK. “We are honored to be named the very first ACS Level I Specialty Children’s Surgery Center in Oncology. This new recognition reaffirms our commitment to providing multidisciplinary, high-quality, patient-centered care.”

The CSV program was developed to improve the quality of children’s surgical care by creating a system that allows for a prospective match of every child’s individual surgical needs with a care environment that has optimal pediatric resources. The program is based on recognized standards meant to achieve high-quality patient outcomes for children’s surgical care regardless of location in a community hospital, standalone children’s hospital, specialty hospital, or a children’s hospital within a hospital.

To become a verified center, MSK met essential criteria for staffing, training, facility infrastructure, and protocols for care, ensuring its ability to appropriately care for children who are surgical patients. The center also participates in a national data registry that yields semiannual reports on the quality of its processes and outcomes, thus identifying opportunities for continuous quality improvement.

A History of Excellence in Surgical Oncologic Care for Children and Adolescents

MSK’s world-renowned surgeons perform approximately 2,500 surgical procedures per year on patients under the age of 18 and approximately 800 surgical procedures per year on young adult patients with pediatric cancers. The institution’s unparalleled expertise in surgery for children and adolescents allows MSK to treat many patients whose cancers are considered inoperable by other cancer centers, making it a preeminent destination for surgical cancer care for children and adolescents.

MSK pediatric surgeons are particularly experienced in performing extensive, complicated surgeries to address neuroblastoma, desmoplastic small round cell tumors, Wilms’ tumors, liver tumors, and other very rare solid tumors seen in the pediatric and adolescent patient population. To optimize surgical care for certain complex patients, MSK has created a unique approach for performing uncommon surgical procedures that are more frequently performed in adult patients. This approach pairs the surgical care and expertise of a pediatric surgeon with that of a surgeon who treats adults. The team of surgical experts may also include pediatric neurosurgeons, pediatric ophthalmologists, and other surgical oncology specialists, such as orthopedic surgeons and head and neck surgeons.

MSK’s physicians and scientists are pioneers in oncology research, working to develop and deliver more effective strategies to prevent, treat, and cure childhood cancer. MSK Kids, the pediatric oncology program at MSK, also brings the latest treatments closer to home for patients and families, expanding care to MSK’s regional care network with locations in Long Island, New Jersey, and Westchester County. MSK Kids delivers care within disease-oriented services, featuring a depth a subspecialized expertise in specific cancer types including sarcomas, neuroblastoma, rare solid tumors, brain tumors and hematologic malignancies. Additional services such as the Pediatric Translational Medicine Program, clinical genetics service, clinical trials, and survivorship program further enhance patient care. There are 14 surgical subspecialties within MSK, all of which can treat children and adolescents with cancer.