Childhood cancer has assumed a greater significance in modern paediatric practice because the control of other causes of death in childhood, notably infection and perinatal problems, has meant that childhood cancer is now the most important fatal disease of children after the first year of life.
Childhood cancers differ from those affecting adults. The common adult cancers, such as those of the
lung, breast and cervix, rarely occur in children, whereas bone marrow cancer, germ cell tumours and Wilms' tumour (nephroblastoma) occur almost exclusively in children. With the development of specialist therapy centres, advances in the treatment of childhood cancer now mean that the stage has been reached where between 60 and 70 per cent of all children diagnosed as having cancer can be cured.
Childhood cancer must be viewed as a family illness, and support for the child and his family is of paramount importance. Along with advances in treatment, concern for the psychosocial impact and the quality of life assumes particular importance as the prospects for survival increase. Thus, the focus of this book, written by nurses whose collective experience extends across the whole range of paediatric oncology, is the physical and psychosocial care of children and their families through all phases of treatment.
The editor, Jenny Thompson, SRN, RSCN, Onc Nurs Cert, FETC, is Paediatric Services Manager, The Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, Surrey.