Advances in children's cancer
Recent successes in children’s cancer research
Faster chemotherapy technique increases survival in children with neuroblastoma
The 10-year trial co-ordinated in six countries studied the effects of administering chemotherapy every 10 rather than 21 days at 1.8 times the conventional dose. Survival in the rapid treatment group was 30.2 per cent, compared with 18.2 per cent in the standard treatment group. The results of this trial have led to the roll-out of the more rapid chemotherapy method across Europe for this type of cancer.
Teen cancer survival on the rise, but more work needed
The first national report detailing survival for teenagers and young adults with cancer shows that survival rates climbed by around 11 per cent over two decades. Before this report, statistical information about cancers in people in this age group had been limited, as patients were treated as either a child or adult and the importance of classing young people as a separate group was not recognised.
The report, funded by Cancer Research UK, will serve as a baseline for monitoring and guiding health policy geared towards developing specialised cancer care for teenagers and young people.
Scientists predict three quarters of children with leukaemia will be cured
The scientists developed a formal method for estimating the number of children diagnosed with leukaemia in the UK who are cured – meaning they have no greater risk of dying prematurely than children who never had leukaemia. The cure rate has increased from 25 per cent in the early 1970s to 68 per cent in the early 1990s – and this figure is predicted to rise to 73 per cent for children diagnosed more recently.
Smoking among child cancer survivors highest in most at risk group
Cancer Research UK researchers from the Centre for Childhood Cancer Survivor Studies at the University of Birmingham discovered that childhood cancer survivors who are most at risk of developing a second cancer are more likely to smoke than other childhood cancer survivors.
The particular radiotherapy regimes and chemotherapy drugs used to treat children with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, soft tissue sarcomas or Wilms’ tumour are known to put these children at an increased risk of developing further new cancers than most other childhood cancer survivors.
This study of more than 10,000 childhood survivors showed that smoking is most common in survivors of these three types of childhood cancer, and suggests that young people who have been through treatment for childhood cancer should be given all the necessary information and support to discourage them from taking up smoking.
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