Pediatric Oncology

Brain or central nervous system cancer

In the first place we find tumors (benign or malignant) developed in the brain and spinal cord; which are treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy in most cases.

Even though there are currently no new treatments that offer a more favorable evolution for these complex patients, these cases are under constant research and development.

These are problems whose treatment involves a higher degree of complexity; they are the most frequent in children up to 14 years of age (26%) and adolescents (21%).

Leukemias:

Then there is this type of cancer that affects the blood-producing cells and bone marrow; consequently causing the appearance of abnormal white blood cells.

Consequently, these white blood cells attack healthy cells and alter various hematological values of the patient, causing other severe situations, such as anemias and infections.

Some types of leukemia that pediatric oncology must deal with are:

• Acute lymphoid leukemia (occupy about 22% of the cases that develop between 0 - 14 years of age).
• Acute myeloid leukemia:

Although acute lymphoblastic leukemia is very common, followed by other variants of the disease, scientific advances have favored the development of new therapies that increase the patient's chances of survival to almost 70%.

Lymphomas:

This cancer develops in the lymphatic system, attacking the structures that are part of the body's immune system and help eliminate impurities. It is classified into 2 types:

• Hodgkin's lymphoma (more frequent in adolescents between 15 - 19 years of age, occupies 12% of cases).
• Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma:

Lymphomas can easily spread through the lymphatic system and reach the bone marrow or the nervous system; in general, they have a very good prognosis when treated promptly.

Bone tumors:

Although many types of cancer spread to the bones, there are some cancers that appear and develop precisely in the bone structure of children.

An example of this is Osteosarcoma; a type of childhood cancer common among adolescents that mainly affects the extremities. Ewing's Sarcoma usually appears in the bones of the ribs.

In any case, these types of cancer have evolved considerably in terms of their treatment schemes, reducing infant mortality rates associated with these causes by up to 50%.

Childhood neuroblastoma; Nephroblastoma (Wilms tumor):

At the same time, some types of kidney cancer exclusively affect children.

Articularly, neuroblastoma develops only in children and a good proportion of them manifest the disease within the first year.

In the same way, Wilms tumor affects the liver, ends up in pulmonary metastasis; and in general has a completely different behavior compared to tumors in adults.

However, research on these tumors is constantly being conducted in search of more effective treatments, especially for those that are identified in advanced stages of the disease.

Rhabdomyosarcomas:

On the other hand, this extremely aggressive type of cancer occupies the soft tissues of the body (mainly arms, legs, head, neck and urinary tract), affecting the musculoskeletal system.

However, new chemotherapy treatment schemes are already available that are providing alternatives to progressively improve the prognosis of this disease.

Retinoblastoma:

Finally, another of the tumors mentioned as frequent in pediatric oncology is Retinoblastoma; a relatively frequent pathology in Latin America, which affects (and in many cases compromises) vision.

Undoubtedly, the hereditary factor plays a leading role in these patients who, in spite of everything, have a good prognosis after surgery and complementary therapies; reaching up to 95% of recovered patients.

From the most recent scientific research and case studies in childhood cancer patients, it has been determined that the majority of neoplasms in children cannot be prevented; moreover, although heredity plays an important role among the different risk factors in the field of pediatric oncology, these cases represent a minority within the total range.

However, there are a considerable number of cases linked to direct exposure to radioactive sources and some chemical substances, but there are no conclusive studies to confirm this relationship. Finally, it should be mentioned that cancer in children is in most cases a surprise occurrence that should be treated immediately to prevent its progression.