WHAT IS NEUROBLASTOMA?

Cancer starts when cells in the body begin to grow out of control. Cells in nearly any part of the body can become cancer, and can spread to other areas of the body. To learn more about how cancers start and spread.

According to America Cancer Society, Neuroblastoma is a type of cancer that starts in certain very early forms of nerve cells found in an embryo or fetus. (The term neuro refers to nerves, while blastoma refers to a cancer that affects immature or developing cells). This type of cancer occurs most often in infants and young children. It is rarely found in children older than 10 years.

To understand neuroblastoma, it helps to know about the sympathetic nervous system, which is where these tumors start.

Can Neuroblastoma Be Found Early?

Researchers have studied whether screening infants for neuroblastoma might find these tumors earlier and lead to better treatment results. Screening is testing for a disease, such as cancer, in people who don’t have any symptoms. One way to screen for neuroblastoma is to test children’s urine for certain substances made by neuroblastoma tumors. (For more information on this urine test, see the section, How Is Neuroblastoma Diagnosed?)

Studies have not found neuroblastoma screening to be helpful. Testing infants when they were 6 months old did find many tumors that wouldn’t have normally been diagnosed. But most of these tumors were of a type that probably would have gone away or matured into benign (non-cancerous) tumors on their own. These tumors probably would never have caused any problems. The screening didn’t lower the number of cancers found at advanced stages or save lives.

What’s more, finding tumors that would never cause serious problems may needlessly frighten parents and can lead to unnecessary tests and surgery in children whose tumors would have gone away or matured on their own if left alone.

For these reasons, most experts do not recommend screening for neuroblastoma in infants who are not at increased risk of the disease.

In rare instances, neuroblastoma is found before birth during an ultrasound, a test that uses sound waves to create an image of the internal organs of a fetus. Ultrasounds are usually done to estimate the age of a fetus, predict the date of birth, and look for certain common birth defects. Improvements in ultrasound technology or other tests may lead to more accurate prenatal (before birth) testing for this disease.

Neuroblastoma is sometimes found incidentally in young children without any symptoms during tests done to find other childhood diseases. These children will usually have a good outcome, and some may not even need treatment.

But most often, neuroblastoma is first detected because of signs or symptoms the child is having.

What Are the Key Statistics About Neuroblastoma?

Neuroblastoma is by far the most common cancer in infants (less than 1 year old). It accounts for about 6% of all cancers in children. There are about 700 new cases of neuroblastoma each year in the United States. This number has remained about the same for many years.

The average age of children when they are diagnosed is about 1 to 2 years. In rare cases, neuroblastoma is detected by ultrasound even before birth. Nearly 90% of cases are diagnosed by age 5. Neuroblastoma is very rare in people over the age of 10 years.

In about 2 of 3 cases, the disease has already spread to the lymph nodes or to other parts of the body when it is diagnosed.

To be continued...