Outcome after Reduced Chemotherapy for Intermediate-Risk Neuroblastoma

The treatment of neuroblastoma has produced remarkable results with intensive combination chemotherapy. The authors attempted to reduce the duration of treatment in patients with intermediate-risk disease while maintaining a 3-year overall survival rate of more than 90%. Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in childhood, accounting for 50% of neoplasms diagnosed in the first year of life. 1 This disease has a heterogeneous course, ranging from spontaneous regression to inexorable progression and death, depending on the biologic features of the tumor. 2 – 6 Identification of risk groups on the basis of clinical and molecular prognostic variables has allowed tailoring of therapy to improve outcomes and minimize the risk of deleterious consequences of therapy. 7 – 14 In 1998, the Children's Oncology Group (COG) established a system of risk stratification for neuroblastoma that was based on clinical data (the patient's . . .