The Spectrum of Malignant Solid Childhood Tumors in the Age Group of 0-12 Years.
The commonest tumor was wilms tumor (9 out of 35 cases) followed by neuroblastoma (4 out of 35 cases). The mean age of presentation was 3 year with commonest age group of presentation (8 cases out of 9) in the age group 1-5 years. Immunohistochemistry performed on 10 of 11 round cell tumors revealed five cases of lymphoma, three cases of Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) & two cases of
Ewing sarcoma-primitive neuroectodermal tumor (EWS/PNET).
Incidence of childhood malignant tumors is on the rise all over the globe, though it is a small fraction of the overall global tumor burden. Yet for children and their families it can be deeply distressing. Although childhood malignant tumors occur infrequently, they present a challenging diagnostic and therapeutic problem. Unfamiliarity with these conditions may lead to the erroneous diagnosis and unnecessarily aggressive therapy.
Malignancy is the second most common cause of childhood mortality in the developed world, accounting for 12.3% of all childhood deaths in USA.1Although major cause of childhood mortality in the developing world is still malnutrition and infections, childhood malignant tumors are also rising in number. About 1/650 children develops malignancy before their 15th birthday. Malignancies accounts for the major cause of death in Indian children next only to infection and malnutrition.
Thus, the appropriate management of pediatric tumors requires detailed clinical history, tumor site, and precise histopathological diagnosis, accurate grading & staging wherever possible along with other clinical investigations. Histological type is important for understanding etiology and progression of disease. No histological diagnosis can be accurate without a clinico-radio-pathological correlation.
Pediatr Neonatal Nurs Open J. 2015; 2(3): 85-90. doi: 10.17140/PNNOJ-2-114
