Cancer in Childhood

Abstract

One hundred and eighty-one cases of tumours in children are described. This includes 167 cases of malignant disease, 6 cases of mixed salivary tumours, and 8 osteoclastoma. The history and literature are reviewed. The incidence was studied from various aspects:— (a) Diseases of children. (b) Cancer in general. (c) Age incidence of cancer. (d) Comparison with other causes of death in children. (e) Mortality incidence compared with adult carcinoma. (i) In age groups. (ii) Per million living persons. (iii) According to sites. A brief summary of the cases in the present series is included, together with a survival analysis. The main methods employed in treatment is analysed, with special attention to radiotherapeutic methods. The tolerance of children to radiotherapy is discussed from two aspects:— (1) Local tissue tolerance. (2) Constitutional. It appears that with care and attention paid to the high exit dose in these small patients, where the distance apart of two fields may be small, quite large doses may be delivered. None of the relevant cases showed abnormal general development following irradiation of regions of anatomy containing the growth controlling glands, neither were any harmful local effects noticed, i.e., premature calcification and ossification of epiphyses lying in the zone of irradiation. References are given to the published works that were consulted, and drawn on, in the writing of this thesis. I acknowledge with thanks the permission granted me to use the records of the Middlesex Hospital, the North Middlesex County Hospital, and the Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood.