RT Book, Section
A1 Hogarty, Michael D.
A1 Brodeur, Garrett M.
A2 Rudolph, Colin D.
A2 Rudolph, Abraham M.
A2 Lister, George E.
A2 First, Lewis R.
A2 Gershon, Anne A.
SR Print(0)
ID 7043537
T1 Chapter 457. Neuroblastoma
T2 Rudolph's Pediatrics, 22e
YR 2011
FD 2011
PB The McGraw-Hill Companies
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-149723-7
LK accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=7043537
RD 2024/04/23
AB Neuroblastoma,  a  tumor  of  the  sympathetic  nervous  system,  is  the  most  common  solid  tumor  in  childhood.  Interestingly,  some  infants  with  metastatic  disease  experience  complete  tumor  regression  without  therapy,  and  other  patients  may  have  maturation  of  their  tumor  into  a  benign  ganglioneuroma.  Nevertheless,  the  majority  of  patients  have  metastatic  disease  at  diagnosis  that  progresses  despite  intensive  multimodality  therapy.1-3  Current  risk  classification  schemes  use  biological  and  clinical  features  at  diagnosis  to  predict  tumor  behavior  and  to  stratify  patients  to  an  appropriate  treatment.  Children  with  tumors  that  have  lower  risk  features  are  spared  unnecessary  therapies  yet  still  achieve  excellent  outcomes.  However,  the  survival  of  patients  with  high-risk  neuroblastoma  is  still  unacceptably  low.  Advances  in  understanding  the  molecular  pathogenesis  of  this  tumor,  including  how  alterations  in  specific  biological  pathways  impact  tumor  behavior,  may  lead  to  novel  therapeutics  to  reduce  toxicity  in  patients  with  favorable  disease  and  improve  outcomes  in  those  with  unfavorable  disease.4,5