Sir, - In response to your Editorial "Treating Childhood Cancer" (March 1st) I would like to highlight some points.
1. The National Children's Hospital in Tallaght (NCH), as you pointed out, is part of international trials. This confers a 10-15 per cent improvement in survival over ad hoc treatment such as delivered in Crumlin.
2. The oncology unit in Crumlin is a centre of excellence, but it is not necessary to destroy the international centre of excellence for haematology that currently exists in the NCH Tallaght. Leukaemia is dealt with only by haematologists (blood specialists) and not by oncologists (cancer specialists).
3. The EU's recommendation of one unit per five million of the population is not applicable to Ireland. Our population is too dispersed and not large enough. An independent study by the Royal College of Pathologists (April 1996) recommends 10 to 12 new cases per year, per unit. It is morally necessary to maintain more than one unit, allowing the continuity and development of best practices of leading-edge treatment, rather than the complacency that has set in, in other areas of the health service in Ireland. - Yours, etc., Elizabeth Pearson-Evans,
on behalf of CHILD, (Parents of children in Tallaght suffering with leukaemia), Lower Albert Road, Glenageary, Co Dublin.