ABSTRACT
ABOUT CHILDHOOD CANCERS An estimated 9,200 new cases of cancer in children ages 0 to 14 were expected to occur in the United States in 2004. In comparison to the statistics for adults, childhood cancers are rare. The types of cancers children develop are generally different from those that develop in adults. An estimated 1,210 deaths are expected to occur in this age range in 2004, about one third due to leukemia. Leukemia is a cancer in which large numbers of abnormal white blood cells are produced in the bone marrow. These abnormal cells crowd the bone marrow and bloodstream, interfering with the production of other types of blood cells, creating anemia and bleeding problems for the child. There are several types of childhood leukemia; as a group they account for 25% of all childhood cancers and affect 2,200 young people each year. Other forms of childhood cancers include brain and spinal cord cancers, neuroblastoma (a cancer of the nervous system), Wilms’ tumor (a kidney cancer), Hodgkin’s lymphoma (cancer in the lymph nodes), and various forms of sarcoma. Despite its rarity, cancer is the chief cause of death by disease in children ages 1 to 14. Mortality rates from childhood cancer have declined by about 49% since 1975 (American Cancer Society [ACS], 2004). Since then, combination chemotherapies, bone marrow transplantation, and new supportive and surgical techniques, some in combination with standardized treatment approaches, have led to the survival of many children who would have been considered incurable in earlier times (Patenaude & Last, 2001).
