Information
 
 
Information on Neuroblastoma
 
Neuroblastoma is a solid tumor cancer that begins in the nerve tissue of the neck, chest, abdomen, or pelvis but usually originates in the abdomen in the tissue of the adrenal gland.
Neuroblastoma rapidly spreads through the body, making it difficult to treat.
Nearly 70% of those children first diagnosed, have a disease that has already metastasised or spread to other parts of the body. At this later stage (stage IV) it is recognised as “High-Risk”. The average age at diagnosis is two years old.
Prognosis for neuroblastoma is dependent on age, stage of disease, and the molecular biological and cytogenetic characteristics of the tumor. There is very little known about why neuroblastoma occurs, or about what factors increase the risk for occurrence.
High-risk neuroblastoma remains a major cause of death due to malignancy. The majority of high-risk Neuroblastoma patients will experience disease relapse. Once relapse occurs, there is no known cure.
Children with advanced-stage disease, (Stage IV) have a significantly decreased chance for cure despite intensive therapy. This is despite the fact that many patients reach the end of treatment with “no disease detectable”. There are a number of reasons, however, why the disease returns. But the main the reasons appear to be that cancer cells have become resistant to traditional chemotherapy and that microscopic residual disease is still present, although “invisible” on scans, at the end of conventional treatment.
Even following the current protocol of intensive chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy and cis-retinoic acid, children with high-risk neuroblastoma have a 2-year survival rate of approximately 20%.
 
(Information sourced from various websites).