Childhood cancer (also known as pediatric cancer) is cancer in a child. In the United States, an arbitrarily adopted standard of the ages used are 0-14 years inclusive, that is, up to 14 years 11.9 months of age. However, the definition of childhood cancer sometimes includes adolescents between 15-19 years old. Pediatric oncology is the branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in children.
Worldwide, it is estimated that childhood cancer has an incidence of more than 175,000 per year, and a mortality rate of approximately 96,000 per year. In developed countries, childhood cancer has a mortality of approximately 20% of cases. In low resource settings, on the other hand, mortality is approximately 80%, or even 90% in the world's poorest countries. In many developed countries the incidence is slowly increasing, as rates of childhood cancer increased by 0.6% per year between 1975 and 2002 in the United States and by 1.1% per year between 1978 and 1997 in Europe.
Video Childhood cancer
Presentation
Learning problems
Children with cancer are at risk for developing various cognitive or learning problems. These difficulties may be related to brain injury stemming from the cancer itself, such as a brain tumor or central nervous system metastasis or from side effects of cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Studies have shown that chemo and radiation therapies may damage brain white matter and disrupt brain activity.
Maps Childhood cancer
Diagnosis
Types
The most common cancers in children are (childhood) leukemia (32%), brain tumors (18%), and lymphomas (11%). In 2005, 4.1 of every 100,000 young people under 20 years of age in the U.S. were diagnosed with leukemia, and 0.8 per 100,000 died from it. The number of new cases was highest among the 1-4 age group, but the number of deaths was highest among the 10-14 age group.
In 2005, 2.9 of every 100,000 people 0-19 years of age were found to have cancer of the brain or central nervous system, and 0.7 per 100,000 died from it. These cancers were found most often in children between 1 and 4 years of age, but the most deaths occurred among those aged 5-9. The main subtypes of brain and central nervous system tumors in children are: astrocytoma, brain stem glioma, craniopharyngioma, desmoplastic infantile ganglioglioma, ependymoma, high-grade glioma, medulloblastoma and atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor.
Other, less common childhood cancer types are:
- Neuroblastoma (6%, nervous system)
- Wilms tumor (5%, kidney)
- Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (4%, blood)
- Childhood rhabdomyosarcoma (3%, many sites)
- Retinoblastoma (3%, eye)
- Osteosarcoma (3%, bone cancer)
- Ewing sarcoma (1%, many sites)
- Germ cell tumors (5%, many sites)
- Pleuropulmonary blastoma (lung or pleural cavity)
- Hepatoblastoma and hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer)
Prognosis
Adult survivors of childhood cancer have some physical, psychological, and social difficulties.
Premature heart disease is a major long-term complication in adult survivors of childhood cancer. Adult survivors are eight times more likely to die of heart disease than other people, and more than half of children treated for cancer develop some type of cardiac abnormality, although this may be asymptomatic or too mild to qualify for a clinical diagnosis of heart disease.
Epidemiology
Risk factors
Familial and genetic factors are identified in 5-15% of childhood cancer cases. In <5-10% of cases, there are known environmental exposures and exogenous factors, such as prenatal exposure to tobacco, X-rays, or certain medications. For the remaining 75-90% of cases, however, the individual causes remain unknown. In most cases, as in carcinogenesis in general, the cancers are assumed to involve multiple risk factors and variables.
Aspects that make the risk factors of childhood cancer different from those seen in adult cancers include:
- Different, and sometimes unique, exposures to environmental hazards. Children must often rely on adults to protect them from toxic environmental agents.
- Immature physiological systems to clear or metabolize environmental substances
- The growth and development of children in phases known as "developmental windows" result in certain "critical windows of vulnerability".
Also, a longer life expectancy in children avails for a longer time to manifest cancer processes with long latency periods, increasing the risk of developing some cancer types later in life.
There are preventable causes of childhood malignancy, such as delivery overuse and misuse of ionizing radiation through computed tomography scans when the test is not indicated or when adult protocols are used.
Incidence and mortality
Internationally, the greatest variation in childhood cancer incidence occurs when comparing high-income countries to low-income ones. This may result from differences in being able to diagnose cancer, differences in risk among different ethnic or racial population subgroups, as well as differences in risk factors. An example of differing risk factors is in cases of pediatric Burkitt lymphoma, a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that sickens 6 to 7 children out of every 100,000 annually in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, where it is associated with a history of infection by both Epstein-Barr virus and malaria. In industrialized countries, Burkitt lymphoma is not associated with these infectious conditions.
US
In the United States, cancer is the second most common cause of death among children between the ages of 1 and 14 years, exceeded only by accidents. More than 16 out of every 100,000 children and teens in the U.S. were diagnosed with cancer, and nearly 3 of every 100,000 died from the disease. In the United States in 2012, it was estimated that there was an incidence of 12,000 new cases, and 1,300 deaths, from cancer among children 0 to 14 years of age. Statistics from the 2014 American Cancer Society report:
Ages birth to 14
Ages 15 to 19
Note: Incidence and mortality rates are per 1,000,000 and age-adjusted to the 2000 US standard population. Observed survival percentage is based on data from 2003-2009.
UK
Cancer in children is rare in the UK, with an average of 1,800 diagnosis every year but contributing to less than 1% of all cancer related deaths . Age is not a confounding factor in mortality from the disease in the UK. From 2014-2016, approximately 230 children died from cancer, with Brain/CNS cancers being the most common culprit.
Foundations and fundraising
There are many organizations that are around for the purpose of fighting childhood cancer. Organizations focused on childhood cancer through cancer research and/or support programs include: Childhood Cancer Canada, CLIC Sargent and the Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group (in the United Kingdom), Child Cancer Foundation (in New Zealand), Children's Cancer Recovery Foundation (in United States), American Childhood Cancer Organization(in the United states), Childhood Cancer Support (Australia) and the Hayim Association (in Israel).. Some of the major foundations include: Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation allows people across the country to raise money with lemonade stands, to help find a cure for all types of pediatric cancer . The National Pediatric Cancer Foundation focuses on finding less toxic and more effective treatments for pediatric cancers. This foundation works with 24 different hospitals across the United States to look for treatments that are effective outside of just the lab space . Childhood Cancer International is the largest global pediatric cancer foundation. Focuses on early access to care for childhood cancers, because of its classification as a curable disease now, focusing on patient support and patient advocacy . These and the hundreds of other foundations involved in the fight against childhood cancer have made many research advances that allow many forms of childhood cancer to be curable. With the advances that are made daily in the labs and hospitals that the foundations sponsor, we are closer to eliminating childhood cancer.
The huge medical advances that have been made by these foundations are not been free, they require donations both big and small from the global community. Experts say that by the year 2020 cancer will cost $158 million annually including research and treatment which is a 27% increase since 2010 . With these ever rising costs, the foundations rely on everyone for donations. There are many different ways to contribute from writing a check to collecting donations from neighbors, friends, families, or other community members. The Cure Childhood Cancer website outlines ideas for how to contribute to the cause in everyday ways. Some of the ideas they provide include collecting spare coins, bake/lemonade sales, donating potions of purchases from stores or restaurants, or Paid Time Off donations as some of the examples . Other bigger ideas that required more planning are auctions, bike rides, and dance-a-thons, to name a few, many of which are organized by the large foundations but can also be organized by people passionate about making a difference. Additionally, many of the major foundations have donation buttons where the funds you raised can be easily contributed to the cause.
Not only do the foundations help with advancing the research, but also in supporting the families that are affected emotionally by this disease. Support groups are offered in the hospitals and online that are funded by the different foundations. Families of the affect children are encouraged to turn to their family and friends, and to the other families that are going through the same struggles as them. The foundations for pediatric cancers help with these situations by organizing in person and online support groups and directing families toward books that aid in the coping process.
The foundations for pediatric cancer all fall under the 501(c)3 designation which means that it is a non-profit organization that is tax-exempt. If you are interested in starting a foundation you must first apply for this status through the IRS before you are able to continue fundraising for your cause.
The International Childhood Cancer Day occurs annually on February 15.
References
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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