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8 slides generated from the cancer page, with a quiz from the open benchmark and speaker notes that cite the sources. Arrow keys move between slides; Print gives one slide per page.
Cancer in children is rare and different from adult cancer: the common types are leukaemias, brain tumours, lymphomas and embryonal tumours such as neuroblastoma and Wilms tumour, most are curable in well-resourced health systems, and the great challenge is bringing the same cures to the majority of children who live where they are not available.
Childhood cancers are mostly not the carcinomas of adults but leukaemias, brain and spinal cord tumours, lymphomas and embryonal tumours that arise in developing tissue: neuroblastoma, Wilms tumour, retinoblastoma, hepatoblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and bone sarcomas. Decades of cooperative group trials made most of them curable in high-income countries with combination chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy, and newer approaches such as CAR-T for leukaemia, anti-GD2 antibodies for neuroblastoma and targeted drugs for BRAF- or ALK-driven tumours are improving results further. Survival is far lower in low- and middle-income countries, where most children with cancer live, because of late diagnosis, abandonment of treatment and lack of drugs; the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer aims to raise survival there to at least 60% by 2030. Survivors carry lifelong late effects, so reducing treatment intensity where cure is secure is a major research theme. Adolescents and young adults (15 to 39) sit between paediatric and adult services and often do worse than either.
| Setting | Approach | Guideline |
|---|---|---|
| Leukaemias | Risk-stratified multi-agent chemotherapy over two to three years for ALL, with immunotherapy (blinatumomab, CAR-T) for high-risk or relapsed disease. See the ALL page. | not mapped |
| Solid tumours | Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy by risk group in cooperative group protocols; anti-GD2 antibody for high-risk neuroblastoma. See the neuroblastoma, Wilms, sarcoma and brain tumour pages. | not mapped |
| Survivorship | Lifelong follow-up for late effects on heart, fertility, growth and second cancers, with a survivorship care plan; trials that reduce therapy where cure rates are high. | not mapped |