The disease can spread to the central nervous system and the bone marrow. Treatments have been developed that can cure many children, and other promising treatments are coming along. It attacks very young children. One-fourth of those affected show initial symptoms during the first year of life. Neuroblastoma spreads quickly, and often is discovered only after the disease is widespread.
Early stages are curable by surgery alone.
Researchers have discovered new treatments for advanced stages which are increasingly effective. The most common soft tissue sarcoma in children, this extremely malignant neoplasm originates in skeletal muscle. Although rhabdomyosarcoma tends to grow and spread very rapidly, fortunately its symptoms are quite obvious compared to other forms of childhood cancer. Overall prognosis is improving, with the development of improved chemotherapies. This rapidly-developing tumor of the kidney most often appears in children, usually between the ages of two and four, and is very different from adult kidney cancers.