The overall morbidity of malignant tumors in children is relatively small and approximately makes 15 cases per 100 000 children. This means that the cancer risk for the period of childhood has one child out of 450, while in adults this index is ten times higher. Among the total number of patients with cancer, children under 15 years do not exceed 2%. Nevertheless, nowadays in Russia, 4.5 – 6.5 thousands of children are annually revealed with malignant tumors. According to the statistics from the World Health Organization, cancer – is the second leading cause of death in children after violent death (injuries, homicide, suicide).

Fortunately, more than 70-80% of childhood cancers are curable. This is due to the peculiarities of physiology and histology of childhood tumors.

The cause of any kind of cancer is a genetic damage in one of the cells, which leads to uncontrolled growth and proliferation of tumor tissue. However, if in adults, we can identify a number of risk factors that may lead to similar mutations, then in the case of children, the cause of cancer is small genetic anomalies, which were inherited from their parents. Most of us have these anomalies, but not all of them lead to the development of tumors. Risk factors acting on the child (radiation, smoking, unfavorable environmental conditions) are not so important.

Keep in mind, that many genetic diseases, such as Down’s syndrome or Klinefelter’s syndrome, Fanconi anemia, are associated with the increased risk of cancer development.

Most often the children get cancer of blood-forming organs (leukemia, malignant lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease) – 70%. These tumors are called hematological malignancies. Less common are tumors of the central nervous system, bones and soft tissues. The rarest are the “adult” forms of cancer – 3% (tumors of the skin, genitals, etc.).

The most important thing in the case of cancer is early detection.