Neuroblastoma

Abstract

Neuroblastoma is unique in its biological heterogeneity. As a result, it is crucial that the therapies selected for its treatment are appropriate according to the patient’s classification based on several risk factors, including the patient’s age, staging, and the grade of the tumor’s biological malignancy. Surgery is one of the key options in the multidisciplinary therapies, with surgeries for neuroblastoma classified into three categories: radical primary resection, open biopsy, and radical second-look operations. It is necessary to select the appropriate surgery on an individual basis. Recently, the Japan Neuroblastoma Study Group (JNBSG) has been performing clinical studies using a classification system that includes three risk groups (low, intermediate, and high) based on the risk classifications of the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). The surgical guidelines combine the low and intermediate groups to create two groups of patients: the low- and intermediate-risk group and the high-risk group.

The figures in this chapter are reprinted with permission from Standard Pediatric Operative Surgery (in Japanese), Medical View Co., Ltd., 2013, with the exception of occasional newly added figures that may appear.