Outcomes for childhood cancer patients have improved in recent years

8 months, 2 weeks ago

About 2,500 children are diagnosed with cancer each year in the U.S. Childhood cancer was once thought to be untreatable, but today most children who have cancer can overcome it

Because of better treatment methods, outcomes for childhood cancer patients have improved in recent years.

About 2,500 children are diagnosed with cancer each year in the U.S. Childhood cancer was once thought to be untreatable, but today most children who have cancer can overcome it. Assistant professor at SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, Dr. Daniel Niebrugge, explains the most common childhood cancers.

"What we see primarily is leukemia- mostly what we call childhood leukemia or acute lymphocytic leukemia and then brain tumors," says Dr. Niebrugge. "If you had the childhood leukemia and brain tumors together, that's about half of everything that we see in pediatrics, just in those two diagnostics. We see occasionally kidney tumors or bone tumors but again those are fairly  small numbers."

Dr. Niebrugge says today most children with cancer can have a normal life. As for warning signs, any child who has persistent fever, sore throat or bone pain lasting for a few weeks should be seen by their pediatrician or primary care physician. The child may be referred to a pediatric oncologist for further evaluation and possible treatment.