The Treatment Of Neuroblastoma With Vitamin B12

Abstract

In two previous reports (1953, 1954) we have reviewed a series of 19 cases of neuroblastoma treated with massive doses of Vitamin B12. The standard mode of therapy used has consisted of intramuscular injections, each of 1,000 micrograms on alternate days, the course being maintained for from 2 to 2 1/2 years where survival permitted. Since our last report three of the patients reported (Cases 2, 15, 17) have died with a recrudescence of the disease and widespread dissemination of metastases, at intervals of 32, 18 and 21 months respectively from the onset of symptoms. A further group of eight children with verified neuroblastoma has been treated with Vitamin B12; one of these is excluded from the survey as he died within a month from the commencement of treatment, and two others have only recently come under observation. Abstracts of the remaining five cases are given.