Neuroblastoma is a childhood cancer of the sympathetic nervous system, affecting 650 children in the U.S. every year. It is the second most common tumor in infants. Most children are diagnosed by age 2.5. Up to 60% of them have high risk disease that has spread to other parts of the body by the time of diagnosis. Survival is dependant on age and disease stage: children diagnosed before 18 months of age have a high survival rate, but high risk children diagnosed before age 5 have about a 30% chance of growing up. For children over age 5, teens and adults prognosis is very poor. |
