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Cancer Facts:
PEDIATRIC
CANCERS
ADULT
CANCERS
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- In the
United States, approximately 8,600 children were diagnosed with cancer
and about 1,500 children died from the disease in 2001.
- This makes
cancer the leading cause of death by disease among U.S. children under
age 15.
- Among
the 12 major types of childhood cancers, leukemias, brain and other
central nervous system tumors account for over one-half of the new cases.
- About
one-third of childhood cancers are leukemias; approximately 2,700 children
(younger than 15 years) were diagnosed with leukemia in 2001.
- The most
common type of leukemia in children is acute lymphocytic leukemia.
- The most
common solid tumors are brain tumors (e.g., gliomas and medulloblastomas),
with other solid tumors (e.g., neuroblastomas, Wilms’ tumors,
and rhabdomyosarcomas) being less common.
- Over the
past 20 years, there has been an increase in the incidence of children
diagnosed with all forms of invasive cancer; from 11.4 cases per 100,000
children in 1975 to 15.2 per 100,000 children in 1998.
- Children
treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy for certain forms of
childhood and adolescent cancers, such as Hodgkin’s disease, brain
tumors, sarcomas, and others, may develop a second primary malignancy.
- Certain
types of chemotherapy drugs, including drugs that are alkylating agents
(e.g. cyclophosphamide or cytoxan, cisplatin, ifosfamide, thiotepa)
or topoisomerase II inhibitors (e.g. etoposide), may cause increased
risk of leukemia.
- Source:
National Cancer Institute
Research on Childhood Cancers, Cancer Facts, February 12,
2002.
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