pediatric cancer
Cancer is the leading cause of death by disease among U.S. children between infancy and age 15. (NCI)
- About 11,210 children in the United States under the age of 15 will be diagnosed with cancer in 2011. (ACS)
- Every school day, 46 young people, or two classrooms of students, are diagnosed with cancer in this country. (Cure Search)
- About 1,320 children are expected to die from cancer in 2011. (ACS)
- About one in 300 boys and one in 333 girls will develop cancer before the age of 20.
(Cure Search) - Among the 12 major types of childhood cancers, leukemias (blood cell cancers) and cancers of the brain and central nervous system account for more than half of the new cases. About one-third of childhood cancers are leukemias. The most common type of leukemia in children is acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The most common solid tumors are brain tumors (e.g., gliomas and medulloblastoma), with other solid tumors (e.g., neuroblastoma, Wilms tumors, and sarcomas such as rhabdomyosarcoma and osteosarcoma) being less common. (NCI)
- Pediatric cancers receive less than 3% of the National Cancer Institute budget. (MCT)
How is pediatric cancer different from adult cancers?
- The types of cancers that develop in children are different from the types that develop in adults. (ACS)
- Cancers in adults and children often act and respond differently. For instance, pediatric cancers are frequently more aggressive and rapidly progressive than many of the more indolent adult cancers. (MCT)
- Children and adults are affected by different types of cancers. Even the cancers that are “common” to both groups are frequently different on both phenotypic and molecular levels. (MCT)
- Cancer treatments like surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or bone marrow transplant, kill cells that grow quickly, such as cancer cells. But in a child, healthy cells in the bone, brain, and other organs, are growing fast, too. Treatment can damage these cells and keep them from growing and developing the way they should. (ACS)
