Newark, NJ -- September is childhood cancer month, dedicated to the 160,000 children diagnosed with cancer each year. The American Cancer Society reports that great progress has been made since the time, decades ago, when the majority of children with cancer died. Thirty years ago, few children with cancer lived, but now cooperative research has improved the survival rates for childhood cancer from less than 10 percent to almost 80 percent overall.
“Treatment of childhood cancer is one of modern medicine's success stories,” says Peri Kamalakar, M.D., Medical Director of the Valerie Fund Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. “Since the 1970s, deaths from childhood cancer have declined dramatically. The overall decline in mortality was nearly 40 percent between 1975 and 1995. Today over 80 percent of children with leukemia are cured.”
However, for the 250,000 survivors of childhood cancer living in the U.S., the cure can come at a high price. The surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy used to treat children sometimes result in life-altering and life-threatening conditions. Dr. Kamalakar reports that research is now devoted to alleviating the effects of treatments - heart problems, infertility, learning disabilities, stunted growth, hearing disabilities and more.
“An entire field of research has emerged in what is now termed "Survivorship," Dr. Kamalakar says. “Our Valerie Fund physicians are members of Children's Oncology Group (COG), where researchers work together to identify cancer causes, pioneer new treatments and cures, and examine long-term survivorship issues.”
Childhood Cancer Still a Threat
Cancer is still the leading cause of death by disease in children in North America, killing more than cystic fibrosis, congenital anomalies, muscular dystrophy, asthma and AIDS combined.
Fast Facts About Childhood Cancer
- In 2007 over 10,000 children will be diagnosed with cancer.
- Over 1500 children died of cancer in 2006.
- One in 300 boys and one in 333 girls will develop cancer before the age of 20.
- Childhood cancer incidence peaks in the first year of life. Incidence is higher for children under five and for those ages 15-19, and lower for children ages 5-14.
- The types of cancer most often found in young children (neuroblastoma, Wilms tumor, retinoblastoma, ependymoma, and hepatoblastoma) are very uncommon in adolescents (ages 15-19).
- Cancers most often diagnosed in ages 15-19 and rarely in younger children include germ cell tumors, Hodgkins disease, and bone cancers.
Looking to the Future
When it comes to cancer treatment, children are not smaller versions of adults, reports Dr. Kamalakar. The types of cancers that strike children and are different from those that strike adults, and require specific research. While childhood cancer research often results in discoveries that benefit adults with cancer, the opposite is less common.
In addition to enhancing “risk stratification,” which means better prediction of the aggressiveness of a patient's cancer and how well it will respond to therapy, researchers hope to improve therapies. In the past, cancer treatment options were limited to surgery, radiation or chemotherapy. Researchers are now working to develop drugs that can target the cancer cell while leaving healthy cells unharmed, adds Dr. Kamalakar.
Help Close to Home
The Saint Barnabas Health Care System has three hospitals in New Jersey that are part of the Valerie Fund, one of the largest and most advanced pediatric oncology/ hematology networks in the country. Young patients receive the most advanced range of diagnostic and therapeutic treatment services from an expert team of specialists, including pediatric hematologists/oncologists, surgeons, radiologists, nurses, social workers, counselors and child life specialists.
You can reach The Valerie Fund Children’s Center at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center at (973) 926-7161.
DATE: September 10, 2008
CONTACT: Beth Salamon, Public Relations (973) 322-4926
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