ADRENAL NEUROBLASTOMA

Adrenal Neuroblastoma

Adrenal Neuroblastoma

Definition

Neuroblastoma is a type of cancer that usually originates either in the tissues of the adrenal gland or in the ganglia of the abdomen or in the ganglia of the nervous system. (Ganglia are masses of nerve tissue or groups of nerve cells.) Tumors develop in the nerve tissue in the neck? chest? abdomen? or pelvis. Neuroblastoma is one of the few cancer types known to secrete hormones. It occurs most often in children? and it is the third most common cancer that occurs in children (Matthay, 1999, 1165-1173). Approximately 7.5% of the childhood cancers diagnosed in 2001 were neuroblastomas? affecting one in 80? 000 to 100? 000 children in the United States. Close to 50% of cases of neuroblastoma occur in children younger than two years old. The disease is sometimes present at birth? but is usually not noticed until later. By the time the disease is diagnosed? it has often spread to the lymph nodes? liver? lungs? bones? or bone marrow. Approximately one-third of neuroblastomas start in the adrenal glands.A leading childhood form of cancer that arises in the adrenal gland or in tissue in the nervous system that is related to the adrenal gland (Matthay, 1999, 1165-1173). Neuroblastoma is the most common solid tumor outside the brain in infants and children. It is often present at birth but usually is not detected until later in infancy or childhood.. The most common symptoms are the result of pressure by the tumor or bone pain from metastases. Protruding eyes and dark circles around the eyes are common and are caused by cancer that has spread to the area behind the eye. Neuroblastomas may compress the spinal cord? causing paralysis. Approximately 70 percent of all children with neuroblastoma have metastatic disease at diagnosis. The prognosis (outlook) is related to the age at diagnosis or do not have regional (the younger? the better the prognosis)? clinical stage of the disease at diagnosis? and whether the child has lymph node involvement by the tumor. Screening infants for neuroblastoma is not warranted because it does not decrease the morbidity (illness) or mortality (death) rate (Matthay, 1999, 1165-1173).

More Information: Neuroblastoma affects newborn babies and children up through the age of 10. In the adrenal it develops in the medulla (the central part) of the gland. In the nervous system it arises in one of the ganglia of the autonomic nervous system; a neuroblastoma so arising is sometimes termed a sympathicoblastoma (Woods, 2002, 1041-1046).

There are about 600 new cases of neuroblastoma diagnosed each year in the US. This tumor can regress (go away) on its own. Unfortunately? most children over a age of year have metastatic disease? disease that has already spread -- the spread is most commonly to the lymph nodes? liver? lungs? bones? and bone marrow -- by the time of diagnosis? so there is often a very poor outcome despite aggressive therapy.

Neuroblastoma is predominantly a tumor of early childhood; two thirds of children with neuroblastoma are diagnosed when they ...