Prenatal and perinatal risk factors for neuroblastoma.

Neuroblastoma is a rare embryonal tumor of childhood for which risk factors are not well known. Using a nested case-control design, we investigated prenatal, perinatal and neonatal risk factors in detail by linking 245 pediatric neuroblastoma cases identified in the Swedish Cancer Register diagnosed in the year 1973-1995 with the Swedish Medical Birth Register. Five living controls per case were randomly selected from the birth registry, matched by gender and age.

Serum alpha-fetoprotein screening for hepatoblastoma in children with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome or isolated hemihyperplasia.

An elevated risk of hepatoblastoma for children with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome or isolated hemihyperplasia is well established. We describe five children with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome or isolated hemihyperplasia for whom serial serum alpha-fetoprotein screening, usually in combination with abdominal ultrasound, led to early detection of hepatoblastoma.

SEER update of incidence and trends in pediatric malignancies: acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) represents the most common malignancy of childhood. Its incidence peaks in children just before school entry age; i.e.

Incidence and trends in pediatric malignancies medulloblastoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor: a SEER update. Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results.

Background: It has been suggested that cerebellar medulloblastoma (M) and primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET) arising elsewhere in the nervous system, represent a single entity (M/PNET), although this concept is controversial. Cancer registries permit population-based description of cases reported as medulloblastoma, those reported as PNET and description of the aggregate, M/PNET.

Procedure: We reviewed the 768 cases of M/PNET (633 diagnosed medulloblastoma and 135 diagnosed PNET) among persons under 20 years of age in the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database.