New trials often start before the full data analysis from the prior trials matures, leading to a more current trial that is utilizing old data.  Analyzing the questions posed and status of the findings from prior trials will allow providers to understand the points of flexibility in current practice, current advances in the field, and titrate therapy accordingly.

Children’s Oncology Group is a large consortia encompassing the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  Given that pediatric cancers are relatively rare, the wide catchment area allows advances in patient care to progress, both in novel therapeutics and novel diagnostics.  The purpose of this presentation is to review the findings of the trials from the past 20 years including questions raised, results to date, quality of data, and current trends.  Review of this information will allow a practicing pediatric oncologist to be able to modify therapy as needed for patients on a protocol more effectively as they will understand what is unknown in the current state, integrate current recommendations into clinical practice including routine germline testing, and rationally incorporate novel diagnostic evaluations such as next generation sequencing.