Neuroblastoma
About neuroblastoma
Neuroblastoma is a solid cancer that develops from neural crest cells and affects the sympathetic nervous system. Every year in the UK, just under 100 children are diagnosed with neuroblastoma.
Neuroblastoma can occur anywhere in the body but it either starts in the adrenal glands (special glands that sit just above the kidneys) or in nerve tissue that runs alongside the spinal cord.
In some cases, neuroblastoma has metastasised at diagnosis to the bone marrow, lymph nodes, bone, liver or skin.
The median age at diagnosis for neuroblastoma is 17–18 months and approximately 40% of the patients are younger than 1 year at diagnosis. Less than 5% of the patients are older than 10 years at diagnosis).
Symptoms
- Swollen tummy
- Constipation or difficulty passing urine
- Breathlessness or difficulty swallowing
- Tiredness, looking pale, loss of appetite
- Weight loss, bone pain
- Blue, small lumps in the skin (neuroblastoma deposits)
- If in the neck, there may be a visible lump
- Occasionally, weakness in the legs or unsteady walking (if pressing on the spinal cord)
Treatment
The treatment of neuroblastoma depends on the age of the child, the size and position of the tumour, the way the tumour is made up (the biology) and whether it has spread.
Treatment usually involves surgery, intense chemotherapy and radiotherapy. If neuroblastoma has spread to different parts of the body, treatment may involve high dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue in addition.
Monoclonal antibodies are now used in some children with high-risk neuroblastoma. It is not yet a standard treatment for all children with neuroblastoma so is only available to patients in the UK that are being treated within a clinical trial.
Survival rates
The survival rates of children with neuroblastoma vary greatly dependent on whether they fall in the low, intermediate or high-risk groups as well as by staging. Children in the low-risk group have a 5-year survival rate that is higher than 95% were as children in the high-risk group have a 5-year survival rate of around 50%.
