Cancer study brain cancer rather than leukemia is the most common fatal disease in children

Deaths from childhood leukemia are in sharp decline
The death of a child is always a sad and terrible affair. Researchers from the United States have now found that brain cancer is responsible for most cancer deaths. The disease triggers leukemia as the leading cause of death.

Scientists at the National Center for Health Statistics (part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC) have now found in an investigation that brain cancer has replaced leukemia as the leading cause of death in cancer. The doctors published a press release with the results of their investigation.

The deaths from cancer in children are generally declining. US physicians have now discovered that brain cancer is now the leading cause of death among children. Only a few years ago, the main cause of death in children was leukemia. (Image: Photographee.eu/fotolia.com)

Substantial reduction of childhood deaths from leukemia
As recently as 1999, nearly one third of all deaths in patients between the ages of 1 and 19 were attributable to leukemia. About a quarter of the deaths were caused by brain cancer. By 2014, however, these percentages had reversed, say the experts at the National Center for Health Statistics. The results of the investigation are a milestone in cancer prevention, says lead author Sally Curtin. The change in the incidence of both causes of death is caused by the reduction in deaths from leukemia. But not by an increase in deaths from brain cancer.

Death rates from cancer have decreased by 20 percent in recent years
Overall, the National Center for Health Statistics report showed that death rates from childhood and adolescent cancer decreased by 20 percent between 1999 and 2014. And this long-term trend seems to continue, say the doctors.

In 2011, there were more deaths from brain cancer than from leukemia for the first time
The number of brain cancer deaths in 2011 exceeded leukemia deaths for the first time, says Curtin. But it was not until 2014 that the difference was big enough for statisticians to recognize this difference as a reliable finding.

Enormous advances in oncology are leading to a decline in leukemia deaths
The decline in leukemia deaths is the result of tremendous advances in oncology, the researchers explain. Specialists in oncology have developed more effective chemotherapies in recent decades. The physicians have long sought the best ways to use radiation therapy and bone marrow transplantation.

Unfortunately, brain tumors are difficult to treat
Brain tumors are generally very difficult to treat. Surgeons must be extremely careful that no healthy tissue is damaged during treatment, explain the doctors. In addition, the so-called blood-brain barrier prevents some drugs from entering our brain.

Cancer treatments often lead to long-term cognitive complaints
Cancer treatments are very stressful and often harm the body. Surgery, radiation or chemotherapy often leads to long-term cognitive discomfort and developmental problems in children who survive the malignant disease, say the authors. For a long time, medics have been trying to find ways and means to mitigate the damage caused by the treatment of cancer.

Further research should be more focused on fusion oncoproteins
In addition to brain cancer and leukemia, other pediatric cancers often affect the bones, thyroid, soft tissue, and other endocrine glands. The focus of research in the future should be on so-called fusion oncoproteins designed, explain the doctors. These proteins are involved in many childhood cancers. Children should be given access to new drugs for immunotherapy in further clinical trials. (As)