Neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma (N.B.) is the most common extracranial solid cancer in childhood and the most common cancer in infancy, with an annual incidence of about six hundred and fifty cases per year in the U.S., and a hundred cases per year in the U.K. Nearly half of neuroblastoma cases occur in children younger than two years. It is a neuroendocrine tumor, arising from any neural crest element of the sympathetic nervous system (S.N.S.). It most frequently originates in one of the adrenal glands, but can also develop in nerve tissues in the neck, chest, abdomen, or pelvis.