The management of abdominal neuroblastoma.

Although survival of children with abdominal neuroblastoma seems at this time to be unrelated to the therapeutic effort, a method of management according to the stage of disease has been developed. Seventy-three percent of patients have metastases at the time of diagnosis. Survival is best in children under 1 year of age. Survival by stage of disease drops progressively from 90% in Stage I disease to 2.4% in Stage IV disease. Irradiation therapy seems unrelated to survival in Stage I, II, and IV disease, while chemotherapy has not been shown to alter survival rates in any stage. Surgical removal of the tumor is still the primary therapy; irradiation is of significant benefit in patients with Stage III disease.