Neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is a type of cancerous tumor that primarily affects children and arises from primitive sympathetic neuroblasts of the embryonic neural crest. It is the most common solid tumor in children and almost exclusively occurs in children, with nearly half of the cases occurring in children younger than 2 years.From: Imaging for Students [2012], Theranostic approaches in nuclear medicine: current status and future prospects [2020], Biotechnology in Medical Sciences [2019]

Paediatrics

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Published in David A Lisle, Imaging for Students, 2012

David A Lisle

Neuroblastoma is a malignant childhood tumour arising from primitive sympathetic neuroblasts of the embryonic neural crest. Sixty per cent occur in the abdomen; of these, two-thirds arise in the adrenal gland. Other common abdominal sites of origin of neuroblastoma are the periaortic sympathetic ganglia in the chest and abdomen, and ganglia at the aortic bifurcation. The peak age of incidence is two years with most neuroblastomas occurring below five years of age. A less common subgroup is congenital neuroblastoma in infants. Congenital neuroblastoma has a better prognosis due to its tendency to spontaneous regression.

Theranostic approaches in nuclear medicine: current status and future prospects

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Published in Expert Review of Medical Devices, 2020

Luca Filippi, Agostino Chiaravalloti, Orazio Schillaci, Roberto Cianni, Oreste Bagni

Neuroblastoma (NB) represents the most common solid tumor in children, arising from the embryonic sympathoadrenal lineage of the neural crest, almost exclusively occurring in children. Although it is a relatively rare disease with an incidence of 1 case on 8000 live births, it accounts for about the 13% malignancy-related death in pediatric patients [22]. Neuroblastoma can arise everywhere along the sympathetic system, but the most frequent localizations are represented by the sympathetic ganglia in abdomen and by the medullary portion of the adrenal glands. According to The Children’s Oncology Group (COG), NB is stratified in low, intermediate, and high-risk on the basis of several biological and clinical factors [23]. Despite many advances in therapeutic approaches, prognosis in high-risk NB remains poor.

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Theranostic approaches in nuclear medicine: current status and future prospects