A review of neuroblastoma: prevalence, diagnosis, related genetic factors, and treatment

Neuroblastoma is considered as the most common solid tumor in children and it is a special types of nervious cells cancer. Neuroblastoma has high potency for metastasis to other organs such as neck, chest, abdomen, or spine. In this narrative review, we assessed prevalence, diagnosis, related factors, and treatment of neuroblastoma based on published articles from 2007 to2017. All published articles in mentioned interval were evaluated and all required data were collected. The collected data were categorized based on determined outlines. According to our findings, neuroblastoma allocated about 10 percent of pediatric cancer to itself. Mortality rate of this cancer is 15 to 20% (annualy 15 per million children aged< 9 years). The incidence of this tumor is higher at the first year of life than other years. The highest incidence is observed in children with age range of 0-5 years. This tumor has low prevalence between people aged > 18 years. Important symptoms of neuroblastoma are: fatigue, loss of appetite, fever, bone pain, blemishes of the skin, a lump in the abdomen, neck, or chest, or a painless bluish lump under the skin, weakness, and slackness. The genes involved in this disease include ALK, BARD1, ERBB2, KIF1B, LMO1, MYCN, PHOX2B, 17q gain, loss of 9p, and 3p, loss of 1p 11q. Surgery, chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, cisplatin, vincristine, doxorubicin, uteroside, and topotecan), radiotherapy, bone marrow transplantation, and transplantation of peripheral blood stem cells are different type of treatment methods for neuroblastoma. The findings of this review also showed that the use of drug delivery system such as lipidic nanostructures, magnetic nanostructures, and other related devices can improve the treatment of neuroblastoma and reduce the side effects induced by different treatments.