Les tumeurs malignes de l'enfant : des progrès mais des pronostics encore très inégaux. Exemple du rétinoblastome et du neuroblastome de haut risque

Children suffering with cancer have a higher probability of cure than adult. Since the 1950's, high cure rates have been achieved following remarkable progress in the overall care of these children. Not only children are more often “cured” than during the past century but they are probably “better cured” with the hope of experiencing less late effects. Nevertheless, there are still large disparities related to tumor diagnosis and regional area on the globe. If retinoblastoma is now cured in about 100% of the cases in industrialized countries, a different figure is seen unfortunately in economically disadvantaged countries. Not only is access to primary care lower, but also ophthalmologic techniques and available cancer treatments are less effective. Nowadays, such high cure rates observed for children with retinoblastoma are not the rule for all children with cancer. For example, despite considerable progress with new innovative treatments, the cure rate of children with metastatic neuroblastoma does not exceed 40%.