Contact
Phone: (02) 9845 1205
About our facility
The Tumour Bank is a biobanking facility based at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead that coordinates the collection, storage and distribution of paediatric cancer specimens. We work closely with both clinicians and researchers, including the Cancer Centre for Children and the Children’s Cancer Research Unit.
Our specially trained staff obtain patient consent, collect samples and assemble clinical information about each donor and their corresponding specimens to be used in childhood cancer research studies.
Donation information
Specimen donations to the Tumour Bank are completely voluntary. They are collected through the normal course of treatment for patients at our hospitals. These specimens are used to support scientists in clinical research aimed at improving cancer treatments for children.
The types of specimens donated are different for every patient and can be tumour tissue, blood, cerebral spinal fluid or bone marrow. Samples are usually frozen once they are collected before being placed in numbered boxes and stored in a freezer at -80°.
Privacy and consent
Providing consent
If your doctor has talked to you about your child potentially donating to the Tumour Bank, you will require to provide informed consent by completing the consent form.
Consent forms gives permission for a patient’s specimen to be stored in the Tumour Bank to be later given to researchers studying childhood congenital heart disease.
Withdrawing consent
If you want to withdraw consent, you will require to complete the withdrawal of consent form.
If you do not want to give consent, or later withdraw your consent, your relationship with your doctor will not change and the care you are provided at our hospitals will not be affected.
Privacy
Samples are de-identified when provided for research. This means that at no time, will any personal details (e.g. patient name, phone number, address) be provided when the sample is being provided to researchers. The patient and family remain entirely anonymous to the researchers who receive any specimen from the Tumour Bank.
If the findings of the research can help better the child’s treatment, the Tumour Bank can forward the research findings to the doctor who is caring for the child.