Pathology of common childhood tumours

This is a review of the pathology of the major solid extracranial neoplasms of childhood that may be encountered in paediatric surgical practice. It does not include the various leukaemias, lymphomas and reticuloendothelial neoplasms that make up a large proportion of childhood malignancy. The rarity of childhood tumours and common overlapping histological features may make the diagnosis particularly challenging. A variety of histopathological parameters may be used to give prognostic information including degree of tumour differentiation, presence or absence of anaplasia, extent of necrosis and mitotic index. Important genetic aberrations of both prognostic and diagnostic significance are also discussed. Increasingly the management of these tumours requires a multidisciplinary approach with close collaboration between the surgical team, pathologist and molecular scientist.