Many people have not heard of the childhood cancer neuroblastoma, even though it is the most common solid tumour of childhood.

Key statistics about neuroblastoma:

• Neuroblastoma is a solid tumour childhood cancer that claims more lives of children under the age of 5 than any other cancer.
• The average age of diagnosis is just 2 years old.
• There are no known reasons as to why this cancer occurs and there are no clear environmental links. There are rare cases where neuroblastoma runs in families due to a genetic mutation, but in most cases there is no known genetic cause.
• Neuroblastoma is a very complex cancer and there are many different types that behave very differently. At one end of the spectrum are benign tumours that may even resolve spontaneously, while at the other end are aggressive tumours with an average survival rate of 50%.
• The average 5-year survival rate for aggressive neuroblastoma is only 50%.
• A third of the survivors of neuroblastoma have long-term side effects from their actual treatments due to the toxicity of them. Side effects include hearing loss, infertility and an increased risk of getting a secondary cancer.
• It is almost exclusively a childhood cancer occurring most commonly between the ages of 0-5 years. It occurs rarely in children over 10 years of age. Very rarely, neuroblastoma occurs in adults. 
• There is currently no cure for relapsed neuroblastoma patients – although there is clear potential to develop one, as the new drugs are showing definite progress.

For more information, you can download the full Neuroblastoma Australia’s Neuroblastoma Fact Sheet: 

Download your Neuroblastoma Fact Sheet here

This information is reproduced with permission of Cancer Australia.