1. Detect Neuroblastoma Prenatally
Even though fetal tumors are considered very rare, neuroblastoma is the most common solid neoplasm that strikes unborn babies. Your doctor will be looking for anything out of the ordinary during routine ultrasounds and will order additional tests if she spots anything suspicious. Two warning signs that your baby may be affected by the condition are solid internal tumor masses and retroperitoneal cysts. If ultrasound findings lead your doctor to suspect that your unborn child has cancer, you'll be asked to submit urine for analysis. The mother's urine may contain chemical byproducts that doctors can use to confirm the diagnosis.
2. Chemical Clues in Blood and Urine
If your child has signs and symptoms of this rare form of cancer, your doctor will likely begin with non-invasive blood and urine tests to look for suspicious chemicals. Children with neuroblastoma are unable to process catecholamines, which are amino acid-derived compounds that include important regulatory chemicals like dopamine. When catecholamines cannot be broken down, their traces are detectable in blood and urine. This is what your doctor will be looking for if he orders blood or urine tests.
3. Imaging Techniques Confirm Tumor Presence
Your doctor may then proceed to use imaging techniques to identify the condition. Computed topography (CT) scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are the two most commonly used image-based techniques for diagnosing cancer. Other imaging formats may be used if and when the diagnosis is confirmed, including chest X-rays and bone scans. These tests determine if the cancer is spreading and, if so, how far.
4. Check for Spread Using Bone Marrow Aspiration
Because neuroblastoma can spread to bones and into bone marrow, your doctor will perform further tests on your child if a tumor or tissue mass biopsy confirms the presence of this cancer. Your doctor will use a needle to extract a bone marrow sample from your child's lower back or hips, which will then be sent to a laboratory for analysis. It's crucial that your doctor identify the extent of the cancer as quickly as possible, as its staging characteristics will influence the treatment strategy. Have any warning signs of neuroblastoma checked out as soon as possible if your child exhibits symptoms.
5. Staging Neuroblastoma
Your doctor will use a four-stage system to express the extent to which the cancer has spread. Stage I neuroblastoma is contained locally, is highly treatable and may be curable with surgery. Stage II cancers are still locally concentrated, but they may be present throughout the affected area, complicating surgical efforts to remove it. At Stage III, surgery is no longer a curative option, because the cancer has spread too far. Stage IV indicates metastasis, and a special Stage IVS designation is used to describe cases of neuroblastoma that behave abnormally. At Stage IVS, neuroblastoma has usually spread to bone marrow, the liver or the skin, but affected children are still considered to have a good prognosis in most cases. For reasons doctors don't fully understand, some Stage IVS neuroblastomas cure themselves without treatment of any kind.
