Neuroblastoma: Review of 20-year Experiences

ABSTRACT

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in children. We retrospectively analyzed the results of neuroblastoma treatment of 191 patients (116 males and 75 females) treated between January 1986 and December 2005 at the Department of Pediatric Surgery and the Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University Children's Hospital. The mean age at diagnosis was 3.1 years (0.1 yrs - 13.5 yrs). Forty-seven patients were under 1 year of age. The mean follow-up period was 57.3 months (24 days - 19.1 yrs). Patients were classified into two groups according to the completeness of resection of the primary tumor; (1) gross total resection (GTR) and (2) incomplete resection (IR). The number of patients in stages I, II, III, IV, IV-S were 17 (8.9 %), 12 (6.3 %), 43 (22.5 %), 114 (59.7 %), 4 (2.1 %), respectively. GTR was achieved in 120 patients and IR in 71 (22 stage III, 47 stage IV, 1 stage IV-S, 1 brain). Overall survival (OS) was 65.2 % and event-free survival (EFS) was 48.6 %. EFS were 100 %, 75 %, 66.8 %, 31.3 %, 75 % at stage I, II, III, IV, IV-S, respectively. There was no significant difference in EFS according to the completeness of resection. EFS was improved in GTR group (p=ns) of stage III, but by contrast, stage IV patients showed worse EFS in GTR group. EFS was improved significantly after the introduction of autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) (58.1% vs. 40.6%, p=.029). The EFS improved significantly after the introduction of ASCT in IR group (p=.009) rather than GTR group (p=ns). The EFS of the patients under 1 year of age (N=47) was better than the patients over 1 year of age (N=144) significantly (75.5 % vs. 39.4 %, p=.0034). The prognosis of neuroblastoma was related to the INSS stage and age at diagnosis. The survival of IR group significantly improved after ASCT.