Early intervention in child-cancer crucial

Childhood cancers make up less than 1 per cent of all cancers, but have been rising slightly in the past few decades. In India, it is estimated that 40-50,000 new childhood cancer cases will present each year, and in Tamil Nadu, about 5,000. 

Childhood cancers are often the result of DNA changes in cells that take place very early in life. The causes of gene changes in certain adult cancers are known, such as, cancer-causing chemicals in cigarette smoke, but not in childhood cancers. Childhood cancers tend to respond better to treatments such as chemotherapy and the outcomes are very good if treated early compared to adult cancer. Also, children won’t usually have co-morbid features of adulthood, like diabetes and hypertension.

Leukaemia , cancers of the bone marrow and blood, are the most common childhood cancers,causing bone and joint pain, weakness and bleeding or bruising.. Brain and central nervous system tumours are the second most common cancers in children. Most start in the lower parts of the brain, such as the cerebellum or brain stem. They can cause headaches, nausea and trouble in walking or handling objects. Lymphomas are cancers that start in certain cells of the immune system called lymphocytes. They most often grow in lymph nodes and other lymph tissues, like the tonsils or thymus.

Retinoblastoma is a cancer of the eye, occurring in children aged between two and six years. 

Children should be treated in paediatric cancer centres where a team of paediatric specialists will know the unique needs of children and teens with cancer and their families. 

Major treatment advances in recent decades in the West have ensured that more than 80 per cent of children with cancer now survive. But 50 per cent in India die due to lack of late detection, inadequate paediatric cancer treatment facilities, the exorbitant cost of treatment and lack of supportive care. 

These should include childhood cancer in national health programmes; heightening awareness about it to achieve the right to health for children; and recognition of disparities in survival rates and implementation of actions at global, regional and national level to reduce these.