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Brain cancer now kills more US children than leukemia
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BRAIN cancer is now the deadliest childhood cancer in the US, now ahead of leukemia, a result of improved leukemia treatment and a frustrating lack of progress on brain cancer.
Government statisticians reported the change in rankings yesterday, drawing from a review of 15 years of death certificates.
“I think most people, when they think of childhood cancer, think of leukemia,” said Sally Curtin of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “This is kind of a changing of the guard.”
Cancer is the fourth leading cause of death for children overall, accounting for about one in 10 childhood deaths in 2014. About a quarter these cancer deaths, or 534, were due to brain cancer. There were 445 leukemia deaths.
Accidental injuries remained the leading cause of death for those under 19, followed by suicide and murder.
There are still more new cases of leukemia each year than new cases of brain cancer, but it no longer accounts for the most deaths. That’s due to advances in leukemia treatment and because it is easier to treat, experts said.
“Some types of leukemia that a generation ago were almost universally fatal are now almost universally treatable,” said Curtin, a statistician who worked on the report.
But the rate of death from brain cancer for children has been about the same level for at least 15 years, according to the CDC report. The trends are similar for adults, too, the American Cancer Society said.
As leukemia affects the blood, it is easier for doctors to get to and fight it with treatments such as chemotherapy.
The brain is protected by a barrier which helps keep many dangerous chemicals — including many cancer drugs — from getting to brain tissue or brain tumors. Surgery is difficult and sometimes impossible, depending on where the tumor is located. Radiation treatment can damage brain development.
“There’s survival, and then there’s survival at a price,” said Dr Katherine Warren, an expert in pediatric brain tumor research at the National Cancer Institute.
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