Childhood cancer is on the rise in the U.S. but a new report says fatality rate has fallen. However, many challenges still remain that need to be addressed in the future.
The American Cancer Society said there will be an estimated 15,780 children diagnosed with cancer in 2014, compared to an estimated 1,960 children who will die from the disease. This is both good and bad news, as it means that we should expect an increase in childhood cancer, but a decline in the number of children who will succumb to the disease throughout the rest of the year.
Furthermore, the cancer society says the annual incidence of childhood cancer in the 19 or younger age group is 18.8 per 100,000. In addition, one in 285 youngsters could be diagnosed with cancer before reaching age 20. At the moment, around one in 530 young adults between age 20 and 39 is a cancer survivor from their childhood days.
Despite the advances in surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy leading to increased survival rate among childhood cancer patients, many of them do not go on to live healthy lives. They are at a high risk of long-term health problems that could turn out to be dangerous.
One example of such cases, are people that survived a brain tumor while in their childhood. They could go on to have seizure problems, blindness, deafness, and weakness in the legs and arms. Furthermore, there's also the possibility of increased mental illness and hormone imbalances.
"Progress in childhood cancer has been dramatic for some sites, but we cannot let that blind us from the fact that progress has been disappointingly slow for other sites, and that cancer remains the second leading cause of death in children," noted Dr. Otis W. Brawley, American Cancer Society chief medical officer, in a statement. "There is much work to be done to improve outcomes, to reduce side effects associated with cancer and its treatment, and, we hope, to understand more about the molecular events that lead to childhood cancer in order to come up with ways to prevent or detect it early."
The problem with childhood cancer is that only a small percentage have known preventable causes. Furthermore, early detection does not always help because some cancer symptoms are very similar to other known illnesses.
