ABSTRACT
Cancer is a rare disease, affecting approximately 1 in 1,400 children a year in the United Kingdom. Comparable figures from the United States suggest that 14 children in every 100,000 develop cancer each year. Although cancer was once an acute, life-threatening condition, survival rates have improved steadily since the 1960s. Depending on the cancer, some 80% of children can now expect disease-free survival 5 years after diagnosis.
