Аuthor: Аldanovа Аzizа
Editor: Аibulova Diаnа
It is not common to listen about neuroblastoma. Moreover, it is possible to detect the onset of the disease and prevent it at the current stage of early diagnosis,. Neuroblastoma is a malignant tumour that affects children under 5 years, and for the older child the chances of predicting the disease is lower. The question that arises is: why are children under 1 or 2 years of age susceptible to the disease, and do adults not suffer from it? This article will discuss the occurrence of a tumor and the nature of inheritance.
Neuroblastoma is one of the cancers that most often infects the brain of children under 5 years of age with a frequency of one case per 100,000 children. Neuroblastoma occurs when immature nerve cells, called neuroblasts, begin to multiply uncontrollably and randomly to form a tumor. This pathology is more often associated with the mutation of the first chromosome, since the found in genes that are responsible for the proper reproduction of the cell. Most of the disease occurs in the embryonic period. The location of the tumor may be the nervous tissues of the adrenal gland, abdomen, chest cavity, neck region or pelvic cavity. Symptomatics are closely related to the topical lesion. Moreover, the tumor can spread to other parts of the body: bones, liver, or skin.Unfortunately, external factors and methods of preventing the disease have not been identified.
Children with neuroblastoma may develop common signs and symptoms such as fever, fatigue, irritability, pain, loss of appetite, weight loss or diarrhea. As mentioned above, the more pronounced symptoms depend on localization. For example, if there is a tumor in the abdominal cavity, meteorism can occur, if the tumor is located in the chest cavity, respiratory distress can occur, and when the tumor takes up space in the neck area, nerve damage can occur.
Due to this pathology, Horner syndrome develops: ptosis (lowering) of the eyelid occurs, pupils and sweats decrease, skin redness occurs. Also, when the metastases reach the bones, there’s bone pain, hematomas and pallor in the skin, dark circles under the eyes, and the tumor in the spine compresses the spinal cord. During the dissemination of neuroblastomainto the skin the rashes of blue or purple color is appeared, which resemble the outlines of «blueberries» or tubers, rather than rashes.
One of the interesting fact is that neuroblastomas can secrete hormones, which determine a number of other symptoms. For example, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, skin hyperemia (redness) and sweating. It is very rare for children to develop Opsoclonous-Myoclonous Syndrome (OMS). The syndrome was first described by Paul Sandifer in 1962. In children, this is manifested by the rapid movement of the eyeballs and the sharp, irregular movement of the muscles of the torso and limbs. This condition is the result of a malfunction in the immune system that attacks the nervous tissue.
Treatment is classified according to the stage of the tumor. When the risk of sufficient surgery is low, the intermediate stage is accompanied by chemotherapy, and when the risk is high, comprehensive treatment with high-dose chemotherapy is required, and bone marrow transplants are required. However, treatment is inefficient at the advanced stage. But since the disease is rapidly progressing, there may be relapses after the condition has improved.
The disease has a genetic predisposition, but with a low probability, as the family that has been diagnosed with the disease had no previous symptoms. In the families identified as neuroblastoma, the disease is referred to as a family neuroblastoma in the later generation.
Despite all the difficulties encountered in diagnosing and treating malignant tumours, there is always a chance of improvement in early diagnosis. Children are very vulnerable, and tumors are able to reshape their bodies in their own way, because they have very little immunity to deal with such anomalies.
However, in neuroblastoma, the prognosis of younger children is better than that of older children, as younger children experience spontaneous regression of the tumor even in the advanced stage.
