NEUROBLASTOMA: Review of the Literature and Report of Six-Year Cure by Roentgen Therapy

A REVIEW of the subject of neuroblastoma seems justified because of the change in prognosis associated with this tumor. Our case, in which the patient seems well at the age of 6 yr., illustrates androgen increase, shown by well-developed acne at the age of 9 weeks. Androgenic material is not secreted by the tumor tissue itself and must be understood as resulting from a mechanical stimulation of the nearby adrenal cortex. Most authors in the past found a very poor prognosis after a diagnosis of neuroblastoma was made. Blacklock 1 felt that the average duration of life was eight to nine weeks. Doub 2 reported three patients in 1937 who lived an average of four and one-third months after the diagnosis was made. Even more recently, Judge, 3 in 1949, reported the prognosis to be hopeless. Lewis and Geschickter 4 in 40 cases found the average life span after diagnosis