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Researchers have done studies to see if screening infants for
neuroblastoma might result in earlier diagnosis and better treatment
results. Screening
is the search for disease, such as cancer, in people without symptoms.
One way to screen for neuroblastoma is to test children's urine for
certain substances made by neuroblastoma tumors. (For more information
on this urine test, see the section, "How
is neuroblastoma diagnosed?")
Studies did not find neuroblastoma screening to be helpful.
Testing 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 of a type that would probably go away
or mature into a benign tumor on their own and would likely never have
caused any problems. The screening didn't lower the number of cases
found at advanced stages or save lives.
What's more, for every 2 children identified by screening
tests as possibly having neuroblastoma, only 1 actually develops a
serious problem. These "false positive" results may needlessly frighten
parents and can lead to unnecessary tests and surgery in children whose
tumor would regress naturally.
For these reasons, most experts do not recommend screening for
neuroblastoma in infants at average risk of the disease.
In rare instances, neuroblastoma is found before birth during
an 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 found by accident in young children
without any symptoms 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, neuroblastoma is detected
because it causes certain symptoms that indicate the child is ill (see
the section, "How
is neuroblastoma diagnosed?").
Last Medical Review: 10/22/2008
Last Revised: 10/22/2008
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