What Is Neuroblastoma?

Neuroblastoma is an extremely rare form of childhood cancer that most often affects children and infants under the age of 10. Approximately 650-700 cases of neuroblastoma occur each year in the U.S. Originating from the words neuro, meaning "nerves," and blastoma, meaning "cancer that affects developing cells," neuroblastoma is a solid tumor that often presents itself as a lump or mass in the abdomen or around the spinal cord in the chest, neck, or pelvis.

Neuroblastoma typically begins growing in the neural crest tissue (early nerve cells) of the sympathetic nervous system. This system, a network of nerves throughout the body, carries messages to the brain and is part of the body's autonomic nervous system, which controls such automatic functions of the body as breathing, heart rate, digestion, and blood pressure, for example. The cause of neuroblastoma is still not known, but pediatric oncologists widely believe that it begins as an abnormal cell that grows while the sympathetic nervous system is developing.