Early detection of childhood cancer is not easy. For many families of children with cancer, it is not until the diagnosis is made that they first hear the names of those “unknown” tumors, which are the diseases that seriously threaten the lives of children.
He Xiangling, chief physician of the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology of Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital, introduced that children of all ages, including newborns, may suffer from tumors, and the sites of onset include all systems of the body. The most common malignant tumors (cancers) in children are hematologic tumors, including lymphoma and Langerhans cell histiocytosis, followed by central nervous system tumors, including brain tumors and spinal cord tumors, and some malignant solid tumors, such as neuroblastoma, nephroblastoma, hepatoblastoma, soft tissue sarcoma, germ cell tumors, bone tumors, retinal
He Xiangling said that since malignant tumors in children are relatively rare, parents seldom think about them even when children have abnormal symptoms such as pain and swelling, and young children are often unable to express their feelings accurately when they are sick, so all these factors overlap and lead to the untimely detection of children’s diseases, and many children have missed the best time for treatment when they are diagnosed.
“In fact, if childhood malignant tumors can be diagnosed at an early stage, it is highly likely that they can be cured.” Shen Yang, an attending physician of the Department of Hematology Oncology I at Dongzhimen Hospital of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that genetics, immune system defects, viral infections and nutritional imbalance are important causes of the high incidence of childhood cancer, and protection during pregnancy and examination after birth are essential to enable cancer to be detected in the first place. Medical technology has advanced to the point that most childhood cancers have a chance of being cured, and the earlier the detection, the higher the cure rate.
Shen Yang said that the early detection of childhood tumors depends largely on parents’ careful observation of their children. Specifically, the following six aspects need to be noted.
- to pay attention to whether the child has unexplained fever, especially if it lasts for more than a week and has no effect with antibiotic treatment.
- check whether the child appears to be in poor spirits, pale, with obvious anemia, and has a tendency to bleed easily, such as bleeding from the gums and nasal cavity, and bleeding spots on the skin mucosa; and has an abnormal rash, unexplained pain, etc.
- when bathing and dressing the child, touch the under jaw, neck, and also the armpits and groin with emphasis, and pay attention to any lumps.
- observe whether the child has sudden slowing of growth, wasting, lack of food and weight loss during the growth process.
- check whether the child has visual impairment or has clinical manifestations of strabismus or outward protrusion of the eyeballs.
- Pay attention to routine blood tests to see if abnormalities are found in the blood picture, such as high or low white blood cells, low hemoglobin, and significantly reduced platelets.
