Cancer in Children – The Role of Supportive Treatment

Cancer represents a major public health problem with an increasing incidence in the last years. Worldwide, 1 of 500 children is diagnosed with cancer, which equals with 130-140/1000000 children, having a higher incidence in the age group under 5 years (1). The incidence and survival in children with cancer depends on the time trends and the geographical variance. According to the international records of cancer such as Automated Childhood Cancer Information System (ACCIS) and Eurocare, the highest incidence among children under 15 years of age, is owned by leukemia – 34%, followed by cerebral tumors 23%, lymphomas – 12%, the rest being nephroblastomas, neuroblastomas and others (2). Due to the introduction of the standard protocols adapted for every malignancy, the total survival among children with cancer increased very much, starting under 20% before 1975 (1) to over 80% in 2014 (2, 3). Therefore, it is very important to establish an early and accurate diagnosis in order to initiate an adequate treatment, the delay of diagnosis determining an increase of the morbidity and mortality (3). The progresses and survival in cancer are mostly a result of the improvements in supportive care. [More]