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CANCERS
IN CHILDREN
For the last 5 years
Kimbolton Country Fayre has been supporting Cancer Research UK and
the 'Bears' have donated approximately £50,000 to research in
this area. Around 1450 children were diagnosed with cancer in
1998. In 2000, cancer claimed the lives of nearly 300 children in
the UK.
Importance
· Childhood cancers
are comparatively uncommon, affecting 1 in 600 children and
adolescents before the age of 15. · Seventy years ago children
were at much greater risk of dying from an infection than they are
today. With the decrease in fatal childhood infections, the
proportion of deaths from cancer has arisen. Cancer is now the
commonest cause of death from illness in children aged 1-14. ·
Since the 1960s the cure rate for childhood cancers have improved
dramatically. Now over 70% of all children with cancer are
successfully treated.
Key
Facts
Leukaemia is the
most common childhood cancer, accounting for around a third of all
cases. Brain and spinal tumours together, account for nearly a
quarter of childhood cancers. Tumours of the lymph glands, kidney,
muscle and bone are less common. The other cancers that occur in
childhood are very rare. Children do not get the types of solid
tumour that are common in adults (such as cancer of the lung,
breast, prostate or stomach). Research on treatment and
improvements in specialist care have led to considerable and
sustained improvement in cure rates for childhood cancers. Before
the introduction of combination chemotherapy in the late 1960s and
early 1970s, few childhood cancers could be treated effectively
and most children died. Today, over 80% of children survive acute
lymphoblastic leukaemia, the most common form of childhood
leukaemia.
What
is Cancer Research UK doing about Childhood Cancer
Although many
children can now be cured, childhood cancer is devastating for all
involved. Cancer Research UK is committed to improving survival
rates and optimising quality of life for every child with cancer.
By investigating the causes of cancer, they also aim to reduce
risk. Their top priorities are to
· Further improve
survival rates
· Overcome the
problem of drug resistance
· Reduce the
side-effects of treatment
· Identify the
long-term effects of childhood cancer and its treatment
· Improve quality
of life
· Discover the
causes of childhood cancer and find ways to prevent it
CR UK are the single
biggest supporter of UK research on children's cancers, with an
expenditure of over £3 million each year
Since the mid 1990s
their commitment to children has included support for two
Professorships of Paediatric Oncology (children's cancer
medicine). Professors Ross Pinkerton (Institute of Cancer
Research/Royal Marsden NHS Trust in Sutton) and Tim Eden (Christie
and Manchester Children's Hospitals) are the first to hold these
positions. The third centre for childhood cancer research, the
Cancer Research UK Children's Cancer Group, is in central London
at St Bartholomew's and the Royal London Hospitals, Profession
Vaskar Saha has been head of this unit since 1999.
A great strength of
these centres is that they sit alongside other large Cancer
Research UK-supported groups. This increases the depth and breadth
of work that can be undertaken through close collaboration between
clinicians and scientists. The research aims to improve survival
and quality of life of children with cancer by developing and
testing new treatments, overcoming the problems of anti-cancer
drug resistance and reducing the side-effects of therapy. Such
side-effects include organ failure, infertility, secondary
cancers, growth retardation and learning, sight and hearing
problems.
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