Benign Blood Disorders

If your child has a benign (noncancerous) blood disorder, the right care team can make all the difference. Many pediatric blood disorders require active management and ongoing care. You may need to work with multiple specialists to manage complications. There may be a number of different therapies to choose from. It can feel overwhelming—both for you and your child.

That’s why it’s important to work with experts who know your child’s condition and how to treat it. But just as important, you should partner with a care team that understands the challenges of balancing care with being a kid.

What Is a Benign Blood Disorder?

Benign blood disorders are noncancerous (benign) conditions where some components of blood—like platelets, white blood cells, or blood proteins—aren’t functioning properly. These disorders can be hereditary, related to cancer or other diseases, or caused by a lack of certain nutrients. They can also be the result of cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Because these conditions can keep blood from doing its job correctly, blood disorders can greatly impact a child’s quality of life. Symptoms can range from fatigue and weakness to frequent infections to excessive bleeding, bruising, or clotting.

Treatment varies based on the severity and nature of the disorder. Some blood disorders can be resolved completely with treatment and nutrition changes while others require lifelong management. Some disorders are life-threatening illnesses that must be aggressively treated. Because every child’s disease is different, treatment requires a flexible, personalized plan that focuses on their specific symptoms and adjusts to their needs.

Experience That Makes a Difference

At Columbia University Irving Medical Center, our benign blood disorder specialists are among the most experienced in the nation. As a pediatric hematology center of excellence, we’re proud of our commitment to outstanding clinical care. We diagnose and treat all types of benign blood and bone marrow disorders—from common conditions to rare diseases.

Comprehensive Care Across All Specialties

Childhood blood disorders can affect many parts of the body, so it helps to have experts from different fields on your team. Our program combines the resources and expertise of a major academic medical center and one of the leading children’s hospitals in New York City. As part of NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, we work closely with our many colleagues across different pediatric specialties to provide compassionate, comprehensive care for your child.

Treatment Driven by the Latest Research

Our doctors are national and international leaders in research focused on diagnosing, preventing, and managing benign hematologic disorders.
As members of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC), our specialists offer advanced treatments based on the latest evidence-based research, including clinical trials for novel drug development, genetic testing, and therapeutic optimization.

Family-Centered Support

We understand how difficult living with these disorders can be—and how these challenges can affect your entire family. Our team is ready to help support your child and your family in every way. Our goal is to keep your child healthy—and your family, too.

Conditions We Treat

We treat all types of benign blood and bone marrow disorders, including:

• Anemias
• Blood-clotting disorders
  • Hemophilia
  • Hemostasis
  • Thrombosis
  • Von Willebrand disease
• Bone marrow failure
• Hemochromatosis
• Hemoglobinopathy
• Genetic disorders
• Immune disorders
  • Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP)
• Lymphoproliferative disorders
  • Epstein-Barr virus-associated t-cell disorders
  • Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH)
  • Langerhans cell histiocytosis
• Platelet disorders
• Sickle cell disease (SCD)
• Thalassemia
• Vascular anomalies
  • Arteriovenous malformations
  • Birthmarks
  • Combined/complex malformations
  • Hemangiomas
  • Kaposiform hemangioendothelioma
  • Lymphatic malformations (LMD)
  • Port wine stains (capillary malformations)
  • Pyogenic granuloma
  • Spindle-cell hemangioma
  • Tufted angioma
  • Venous malformations (VMs)
• White blood cell disorders

Our Programs

Our specialized clinical programs bring together experts from across Columbia to provide support and care for specific benign blood and bone marrow disorders, including:

Sickle Cell Disease

Our pediatric sickle cell disease (SCD) program has a long tradition of providing excellent care for children and adolescents with SCD, built around family-centered multidisciplinary health services. 

Learn More About Our SCD Program

Stem Cell Transplantation

The Stem Cell Transplantation Program (SCT) at NYP Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital is one of the oldest and largest programs of its kind in the nation. Our specialists have extensive experience in stem cell transplantation to treat cancerous and noncancerous conditions. And we have pioneered new approaches to maximize transplantation success while minimizing exposure to radiation.

Learn More About the Stem Cell Transplantation Program (SCT)

Pediatric Thrombosis

Since 2015, the outpatient clinical thrombosis program at NYP Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital has been helping patients with managing acute blood clots, screening for increased risk of blood clots, and monitoring for complications. 

Learn More About the Clinical Thrombosis Program at NYP

Vascular Anomalies

Columbia’s Vascular Anomalies Group provides comprehensive care for patients of all ages with a wide range of vascular anomalies—problems that develop in arteries, veins, and structures in the lymphatic system.  Our multidisciplinary approach brings together specialists from across Columbia to coordinate care.

Learn More About Our Vascular Anomalies Group