In spite Of Huge Progress Some Pediatric Cancer Remains Incurable

Children have been found to be less susceptible than adults to cancer. There have been giant steps in treatment of cancer in children. The treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a huge success story. The survival rates have become 80 – 90%. But there still are some pediatric cancers or tumors for which no cure has yet been found and which can be fatal. Since the occurrence of cancer among adults is so much higher than in children, most funding has been concentrated on discovering successful treatment for them. These cancer drugs are normally tested on adults to save the children from the toxic fallouts since these medicines produce side effects which can be extremely harmful to children. Therefore any research on drugs to treat tumors in children has to be very carefully worked out. In pediatrics the doctors have be extremely careful in prioritizing what they test.