Childhood Cancers

Jerry Z. Finklestein, MD 
Adapted for the Canadian edition by Mark L. Greenberg, MB, ChB 

Cancer in children is a rare disease. For every 120 adults who develop cancer there is one child. Yet next to accidents, cancer is the second most common cause of death in children between the ages of one and 14. In Canada, about 850 new cases of cancer are diagnosed in children under 14 each year. Recent evidence suggests that the incidence of cancer in children has increased during the past two decades by about 4 percent. However, the overall mortality rate in children younger than 15 has decreased by 38 percent.
    Childhood cancers are different from those in adults. The growth pattern is different and the tumors react differently to treatment. Most important, the problems seen in a child differ from those of an adult.
    Fortunately, with the development of new drugs, new treatment methods, better diagnostic tools and the involvement of multidisciplinary medical teams, the outlook for childhood cancers has improved dramatically over the past few decades. More and more children with cancer are now being cured.

Types  The most common childhood cancer is leukemia, accounting for about one-third of all cancers seen. The most common types in children are acute lymphoblastic leukemia and, less frequently, acute non-lymphoblastic leukemia.