The number of new cases of pediatric cancer is stable, but therapeutic advances save more children.
Cancer kills fewer and fewer children each year in France. Good news brought by the 2016 edition of the report “Cancers in France” from the National Cancer Institute (INCa).
With 1,750 new cases of cancer diagnosed each year, the incidence in children under 15 has been stable since 2000. About one in 440 children will be affected by cancer before the age of 15, says INCa.
Rare cancers
Young patients who do not have the same cancers as their elders. Leukemia is the most common form (29% of cases), followed by brain tumors (24%). And nearly a quarter of the pathologies encountered in children are hardly ever observed in adults.
While these diseases continue to kill hundreds of children each year, and remain the 4e cause of death between 0 and 15 years, mortality decreases. Between 1999 and 2012, the number of deaths rose from 360 to 250. A positive development linked to the therapeutic progress made over the last decade. Five years after diagnosis, more than 8 in 10 children are still alive.
Better survival among 15-19 year olds
This favorable trend also benefits adolescents and young adults. INCa estimates that around 800 young people aged 15 to 19 are affected by cancer each year in the country. Hodgkin lymphoma (22%), leukemia (12%) and thyroid cancer are the 3 main pathologies treated in these patients.
Tumors with a good prognosis which explain a high survival rate: here too, 8 out of 10 patients are still alive 5 years after diagnosis. In 25 years, the survival rate has gained 20 points.
According to the latest figures available, 117 deaths have been attributed to cancerous pathologies. Almost half are attributed to leukemia and central nervous system tumors.
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