Screening of Infants and Mortality Due to Neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in early childhood and can be identified in preclinical stages by detection of catecholamines in the urine. It is uncertain whether routine screening for neuroblastoma can reduce mortality due to this disease. In this study, parents of infants born in Quebec, Canada, during a five-year period (May 1989 through April 1994) were offered screening for neuroblastoma when the infants were three weeks and six months of age. After the initiation of screening, the cumulative childhood mortality from neuroblastoma over a nine-year period was no lower in the Quebec cohort than in several unscreened North American cohorts and was similar to that in Quebec before the screening program. After the initiation of screening, childhood mortality from neuroblastoma was no lower in the Quebec cohort than in several unscreened cohorts. Neuroblastoma, the most common extracranial solid tumor in children under the age of five years, affects 1 in 7000 children. 1 – 3 Forty percent of cases are diagnosed in children younger than one year of age. These young children have an extremely favorable prognosis even if they present with metastatic disease. This observation has led to consideration of screening infants with the use of specific catecholamine markers that may be measured easily in urine in order to detect the disease in preclinical stages. 4 , 5 However, it is not known whether this approach can reduce mortality from neuroblastoma. 6 , 7 We designed the . . .