Update on solid tumor management in childhood.

Surgery will continue to play an important role in the multidisciplinary treatment of solid tumors in children. However, as the complexity of therapy increases, it is imperative that the pediatric surgeon become familiar with new radiation therapy techniques, new chemotherapeutic agents, and the advances that are being made in immunodiagnosis, immunotherapy, and molecular biology. New markers for various tumors are being discovered and have therapeutic and prognostic value that may have a significant impact on surgical therapy. New protocols are being developed within the various cooperative research groups, and the surgeon must participate actively, so that surgical questions of importance can be answered and so that adequate tissue specimens can be obtained for future investigations.