Researchers have conducted studies to see if screening infants for neuroblastoma would result in earlier diagnosis and better treatment results. Screening means conducting tests even when there are no symptoms or other reasons to suspect that a disease may be present. One way to screen for neuroblastoma screening is to test children's urine for certain substances produced by neuroblastoma tumors. (For more information on this urine test, see the section, "How Is Neuroblastoma Diagnosed?")

It turns out that neuroblastoma screening is not helpful. The screening of infants when they were 6 months old did find a large number of cases that wouldn’t have normally been diagnosed. But most of the tumors found by this method were a type that would probably go away or mature into a benign tumor and would likely never have caused any problems. The screening didn’t lower the number of cases found at advanced stages or save any lives. For this reason, experts feel that screening will not lead to a decrease in deaths from neuroblastoma.

What's more, the current tests available for screening cannot tell whether the neuroblastoma is dangerous or will go away on its own. For every 2 children identified by screening tests as possibly having neuroblastoma, only 1 actually develops a serious problem. These "false positive" results needlessly frighten parents and can lead to unnecessary tests and surgery in children whose tumor would disappear naturally.

In rare instances, neuroblastoma can be diagnosed before birth using ultrasound, a test that uses sound waves to create an image of the internal organs of a fetus. Ultrasounds are usually done to estimate the age of a fetus, predict the date of birth, and look for certain common birth defects. Improvements in ultrasound technology or other methods may lead to more accurate prenatal (before birth) testing for this disease.

Neuroblastoma is sometimes discovered by accident during tests done to find other childhood diseases. These children will usually have a good outcome and may not even need treatment. However, in most cases, certain symptoms of neuroblastoma occur and provide a warning that the child is ill. These children will need treatment and may not have a good outcome.

Revised: 08/04/2006