Children's cancers
This page has information about children’s cancers. There is information about
Childhood cancer is much less common than adult cancer. In fact it is quite rare. In the UK around 1,500 children each year are diagnosed with a childhood cancer. This is a small number compared with approximately 275,000 adults diagnosed with cancer in 2002. Leukaemia is the most common type of cancer found in children but it is still rare. Children develop different types of cancers than adults but they are often treated with the same types of treatments.
In the 1960s only about 3 out of every 10 children (30%) with cancer were successfully treated. But in the past 40 years treatment for children with cancer has improved greatly. Now 75 out of every 100 children diagnosed with cancer (75%) will live for at least 5 years. The vast majority of these children will be cured.
For some types of childhood cancers such as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and Wilms' tumour, a type of kidney cancer in children, this rate is even higher - 8 out of 10 children (80%) diagnosed will live for at least 5 years. Hodgkin's lymphoma and an eye cancer called retinoblastoma are curable in more than 9 out of 10 children (90%).
Even though cancer is not common in children, it is the most common cause of death from illness in children between the ages of 1 and 15. This is because children today are at much lower risk of dying from infectious diseases than they were 80 years ago. So although the percentages of children dying from various cancers have gone down, the proportion of childhood deaths from cancer overall has gone up.
The most common types of childhood cancers are
- Leukaemias - 1 in 3 children with cancer have leukaemia
- Cancers of the brain and spinal cord - 1 in 4 children with cancer have a brain or spinal cord cancer
- Other rarer types
The other rarer types of children's cancers include retinoblastoma (a type of eye cancer), Wilm’s tumours (a type of kidney cancer), muscle or bone cancers (osteosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewings sarcoma) or a lymphoma (cancer that starts in the lymphatic system).
CancerHelp UK has a general section on acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, the most common type of childhood leukaemia and another on brain tumours. These sections are about adult cancer, rather than children's cancers but much of the information on causes, diagnosis and treatment will be the same.
Although we have identified a number of lifestyle changes that can help to prevent many adult cancers developing cancer, we don't know how to prevent most childhood cancers. We don't know what causes childhood cancers either. We do know some factors that increase risk, but most children with cancer don't have any of these risk factors anyway. And many children who do won't go on to develop cancer. The known risk factors include
- Inherited medical conditions
- Problems with development in the womb
- Exposure to infections
- Exposure to radiation
- Previous cancer treatments
There is more information about all these further down the page. A couple of other factors keep cropping up as possible risk factors but so far there is no convincing evidence that either of them are related to childhood cancer. They are
Inherited conditions
Certain inherited (genetic) conditions can increase a child's risk of developing some types of cancers. For example, children with Down's syndrome are 10 to 20 times more likely to get leukaemia than other children. Do bear in mind that leukaemia is still very rare, even in these children.
Problems with development in the womb
Some childhood cancers such as Wilm’s tumours (kidney cancer in children) and retinoblastomas (eye cancer in children) begin when the baby is still inside their mother. When a baby is growing in the womb, many parts of the body, such as the kidneys and eyes, develop very early on. Sometimes something goes wrong and some of the cells that should have turned into mature cells to form a part of the body don’t. Instead they remain as very immature cells. Usually, these immature cells don't cause any problems and mature by themselves by the time the child is 3 or 4. But if they don’t, they may begin to grow out of control and develop into a cancerous tumour.
Exposure to infections
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a common infection in young children. It usually causes no symptoms. But it can cause glandular fever in teenagers and young adults. In rare cases EBV can contribute to the development of cancers like Hodgkin’s disease and Burkitt’s lymphoma.
Exposure to radiation
We know that radiation can increase cancer risk because children exposed to radiation after the atomic bombings in Japan had a much greater risk of developing leukaemia. Children who have radiotherapy for another cancer do have a slightly greater risk of developing another type of cancer later on. But the risk is small compared to the risk to their health if the original cancer had not been treated with radiotherapy.
There is sometimes concern in the press about levels of radon gas in the home. But overall, studies so far have only suggested that there may be a weak link between indoor levels of radon gas and risk of childhood leukaemia.
Previous cancer treatments
Past treatment with chemotherapy can increase risk of cancers such as acute leukaemia many years later in children and adults. There is more information about acute leukaemia and previous cancer treatments in our question and answer section.
Electromagnetic fields
Some reports have suggested that exposure to electromagnetic fields (eg overhead power lines) might increase a child's risk of developing cancer. But as yet no conclusive link has been found. There is more information about electromagnetic fields and cancer risk in the questions and answers section.
Vitamin K injection in newborn babies
To prevent a condition called vitamin K deficiency bleeding, vitamin K injections have been given to newborn babies since the late 1950's without any reported problems. VKDB is a very serious disease and about half the babies who suffer it will die or have permanent brain damage because of bleeding into the brain.
Concerns about the safety of vitamin K injection came about in the 1990's when 2 medical papers suggested a link between vitamin K injections and childhood leukaemia. Since then several other studies have been carried out in the UK, across Europe and in the USA which have found no association between vitamin K injections and an increased risk of childhood leukaemia.
Despite the evidence, this issue is still of great concern to some parents. The Leukaemia Research Fund has put together a list of references to help doctors, midwives and parents understand more about it.
Although 7 out of 10 children are now successfully treated, childhood cancer is still devastating for all concerned. Treatment can last months, which means long stays in hospital and being away from the home, school, friends and siblings. School age children may fall behind. Even though children’s wards do have teachers to keep the kids school work up to date, side effects from the cancer and its treatment often makes children very tired. They may feel like not doing anything at times, except having a cuddle with Mum or Dad.
Cancer Research UK scientists have found evidence of increased withdrawal, anxiety and depression in childhood cancer survivors nine months after diagnosis. They have been looking at how families cope when a child has cancer and what factors are important in making the child (and family) either more vulnerable or better able to cope with the cancer and its consequences. The aim is to develop guidance to help children and their families cope as well as possible throughout the illness and beyond.
The UK Children's Cancer Study Group have merged with the Childhood Leukaemia Working Party to form a new organisation called The Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG). Cancer Research UK supports the clinical trials of the CCLG through its administrative centre in Leicester and 22 paediatric centres throughout the British Isles. The CCLG co-ordinates the care of virtually all children with cancer in the UK. This ensures they receive the most up-to-date treatment and that cure rates continue to climb.
Children with cancer tend to do better if they are recruited onto a clinical trial, and recruitment has greatly improved in recent years. The CCLG is currently coordinating more than 30 trials throughout the UK. We are working with the CCLG to get all the trials listed on our clinical trials database as soon as possible. Choose 'children's' from the drop down menu of cancer types.
The work of the CCLG is especially important for the rarer childhood cancers. Doctors across the country can pool their experience and so improve knowledge about the best treatment. For very rare cancers, doctors must collaborate with doctors in other countries and the CCLG has strong links with groups in Europe and the United States.
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