The Problem Of Spontaneous Regressions Of Malignant Tumors

Abstract

A review of 180 cases of neuroblastoma reported at the Pediatric Service of Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases between 1926 and 1958 is presented. It seems evident that the natural history of neuroblastoma may vary greatly from child to child. Surgery and irradiation are the recognized therapeutic modalities. Chemotherapy is still of questionable value but investigation of its effects should be continued. The prognostic evaluation must be guarded, for, as in other cancers, the five-year, ten-year or longer survival “yardsticks” may prove erroneous in some instances. One of the cases presented is that of a child with biopsied neuroblastoma who underwent a spontaneous remission with no treatment.