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Review of thoracic neuroblastoma
Author(s) -
GOON H. K.,
COHEN D. H.,
HARVEY J. G.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1754.1984.tb00030.x
Subject(s) - medicine , neuroblastoma , stage (stratigraphy) , thorax (insect anatomy) , radiation therapy , presentation (obstetrics) , disease , surgery , chemotherapy , thoracic neoplasm , incidence (geometry) , soft tissue , pathology , anatomy , paleontology , genetics , physics , biology , optics , cell culture
Twenty‐seven cases of thoracic neuroblastoma were reviewed. Thirteen cases (48%) survived, 11 for more than 2 years and two for more than 14 months. Surgery is the treatment of choice and complete excision appears to give the best result. However, radical surgery is discouraged if the tumour is not readily removable. The use of chemotherapy and radiotherapy should be limited to Stage III and Stage IV disease and for palliation of soft tissue and bony secondaries. The clinical presentation was generally non‐specific with respect to the final diagnosis in this series. Significantly raised catecholamines were seen in 13 of 16 patients assessed (81%). Prognosis was related to the age at diagnosis, stage of disease and the histological type. The better prognosis seen in thoracic neuroblastoma in comparison with abdominal neuroblastoma may be related to the earlier presentation of the disease and the higher incidence of better differentiated tumours in the thorax. There appears to be an unknown additional factor that confers a better prognosis in patients under 1 year old.