Mainly affecting children,
Neuroblastoma
is a relatively rare cancer of
the sympathetic nervous system a nerve network that carries
messages from the brain throughout the body. Each year about 650
children in the United States will develop Neuroblastoma.
Generally developing in young children, it accounts for half of
all malignancies in infants. These solid tumors, which take the
form of a lump or mass, begin in the nerve tissues of the neck,
chest, abdomen, or pelvis and most commonly in the adrenal glands.
Neuroblastoma metastasizes, or spreads, very easily, most commonly
to the lymph glands in the belly, to the hard bones and bone
marrow [the inside of the bones where blood cells are made], to
the liver, or to the skin.
Neuroblastoma has often been called a "silent tumor" because 70%
of the children with this tumor already have metastases before any
signs of the disease are noticed or diagnosed. There is no known
cause and currently no known cure.
