Chemotherapy and other treatment modalitities in children with Neuroblastoma

Abstract

Neuroblastoma is the second most common solid tumor in the first decade of life. A retrospective study reviewed (39) children treated for N.B. at Al-Mansour Teaching Hospital for children from Jan. 1st 2001 to Dec. 31st 2006, the clinical data were analyzed. Thirty nine Patients were included (23) males (59%) and (16) females (41%) , the median age at diagnosis was (48) months .The abdomen was the site of initial tumor in 31(79.4%) of patients, hypertension is found in 6 out of eleven cases (54.5%) and hepatomegaly is found in 53.8% of cases . Anemia was recorded in 26(68.4%) of patients Stage IV was the predominant clinico-pathological stage .The median survival was 13.5 months (range 1 month — 45 months). There was significant association between the stage of the disease and event free survival. There was no statistically significant association between the age at diagnosis and the outcome because about 15 cases (38%) of the patients were lost to follow-up .The study recommends the use of the new method for early diagnosis and treatment of the disease like the use of autologous bone marrow transplant and the use of antibodies directed against the tumor cells.