In the 1990s, 73 percent of children were alive five years after being diagnosed with cancer. That number has increased by 10 percent. This is evident from figures from the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the Netherlands (IKNL) that are published today.
In 2021, 556 children and teens were misdiagnosed. That number has been stable in recent decades. More than one-third of childhood cancer patients are younger than 5 years old. Leukaemia, brain tumors and lymphomas are the most common among children and young people.
Children with Hodgkin lymphoma, retinoblastoma, and germ cell tumors have the greatest chance of surviving the disease; more than 95 percent of these patients are still alive after five years. The prognosis for certain types of brain cancer, neuroblastoma and a specific form of bone cancer (osteosarcoma) is much worse with a survival rate of less than 70 percent after five years.
Treatments
Still, better treatments are being developed for childhood cancer, says Henrike Karim-Kos, researcher at IKNL and the Princess Máxima Center in Utrecht, the pediatric oncology hospital. “New treatments have emerged, but doctors also know better which existing drugs they can combine, for example.” In addition, the diagnoses have improved. Doctors can better determine where the cancer is already located, and adjust the treatment accordingly.
A lot of research remains necessary, says Karim-Kos, because childhood cancer is different from adult cancer. The disease often arises in cells that adults no longer have. The treatments also differ. “Children can be treated more intensively because they tolerate chemotherapy better,” explains the researcher.
Immunotherapy
And although the chances of survival are improving, cancer remains one of the leading causes of death in children. According to Karim-Kos, there is therefore still a long way to go. “The last percentages are always the hardest.” She does expect that the survival rate for childhood cancer will continue to rise in the coming years. “Immunotherapy is already being used in children. We are still taking steps.”
Hopes are pinned on new, promising research in the fight against childhood cancer. This is necessary, because currently one in five children will not survive the disease. Today on World Childhood Cancer Day, international attention is being paid to the fact that carefree growing up is not self-evident.
Curse
Creating that awareness is one of the goals of the Children Cancer Free Foundation (Kika). Today they are launching an information campaign that should lead to more understanding for sick children. By giving guest lessons at primary schools, the foundation wants to dispel certain misconceptions, among other things. Children often think that cancer is contagious. Another aim is to prevent swearing with the disease.
But don’t you scare children by telling them about cancer? “It’s a tough subject, especially for children,” agrees Helen Walker of Kika. “That’s why we often prefer to avoid it. But it is important to talk about it, especially because most children will sooner or later have to deal with the subject.”
“That could be a grandpa or grandma, or a child in the class. Then it is important that the subject is not only seen as very scary and heavy, but that it can be discussed openly. With the information material we explain childhood cancer in a way that preschoolers can understand it. Playfully and without frightening them.”
New, promising research
Kika has approved new research into a specific type of tumour. It focuses on the development of a type of immunotherapy that is already being used in adults, but is not yet used in pediatric oncology. The study focuses on the treatment of children in whom this type of cancer has spread or has come back after treatment. ‘The cure rate for them is less than 30 percent,’ says Martine van Keimpema of Kika.
She calls the idea promising. On the one hand because the hope is that it contributes to the goal of curing every child with cancer. At the moment that percentage is around 83 percent, more than 20 years ago it was 72 percent. Another reason why KiKa is happy with the research is that it can contribute to a better quality of life later in life. “Many children who recover develop complaints later on,” says the research coordinator.
That’s because chemotherapy attacks all the cells in the body. That causes a lot of damage. This form of immunotherapy allows antibodies to specifically attack the cancer cells. The four-year study is being carried out at the Princess Máxima Center in Utrecht, the largest pediatric cancer center in Europe.