Neuroblastoma in Childhood

SECOND only to accidents, cancer is the most frequent cause of death in children older than 1 year.¹ In the California Tumor Registry neuroblastoma accounts for 5% of the childhood malignancies, and in children's centers 10% to 12% of the malignant neoplasms are neuroblastomas.^2,3 This tumor is preceded in frequency only by leukemia and brain tumor. However, there are only five series of more than 90 patients reported. Cases of neuroblastoma recorded in the California Tumor Registry are reviewed in this paper. This series is compared with the other large series reported from single medical centers: namely, the Hospital for Sick Children, London; the Children's Medical Center, Boston; the Memorial Center for Cancer and Allied Diseases, New York; the Children's Hospital, Philadelphia; and the Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio.^4-8 A synthesis of this material may provide a predicted biologic behavior of neuroblastoma, so that the effectiveness of newer