Certain Childhood Cancers More Likely to Recur

FRIDAY, Dec. 4, 2009 (HealthDay News) -- Some childhood cancers, particularly Ewing sarcomas and central nervous system tumors, carry the risk of late recurrence, U.S. researchers have found.

The study authors analyzed data from 12,795 five-year survivors of the most common pediatric cancers who were enrolled in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.

The researchers found that the overall cancer recurrence rate was 4.4 percent at 10 years and 6.2 percent at 20 years. But the recurrence rate at 20 years was much higher for astrocytomas (14.4 percent) and for Ewing sarcomas (13 percent), and much lower for kidney tumors (0.9 percent), non-Hodgkin lymphomas (2.4 percent) and neuroblastomas (2.6 percent).

"Future research is needed to determine the risk of recurrence in subgroups of survivors and the cost-effectiveness of long-term disease surveillance in at-risk patient groups because these factors need to be considered in long-term follow-up and transitional care plans," wrote Dr. Karen Wasilewski-Masker, of the Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite, and colleagues.

The study appears online Dec. 4 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

More information

The Nemours Foundation has more about childhood cancer.