ABSTRACT
A retrospective multicentric study of 23 patients with stage IV-S neuroblastoma treated in 10 national Pediatric Surgery Departments between January 1988 and December 1992, is presented. All cases were classified as stage IV-S following staging criteria proposed by Evans et al. The age diagnosis was an average of 3 months. An acute clinical course was seen in 7 patients. Primary sites of the tumor were: adrenal gland in 6 patients (30.5%), abdominal paravertebral in 3 (13%) and unknown in 2 (9%). Distant tumor sites were: liver in 20 patients, bone marrow in 9, and skin in 5. There were not systematic therapeutic approach, in 16 cases (69%) the primary tumor was resected, 18 (78%) received chemotherapy, the liver was irradiated in 3 (13%), and 1 case (4%) received no treatment at all. One children died. The overall disease-free survival is 95.6% at 43 months post-diagnosis. A common treatment protocol is proposed, with systematic determination of N-myc oncogene which will indicate the appropriate therapy.
