title: Prognostic factors including neoadjuvant chemotherapy in Mexican children with neuroblastoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are several prognostic factors in children with neuroblastoma that have been outlined in the international literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective study was carried out analysing the medical records of patients with the pathological diagnosis of neuroblastoma seen at the Department of Oncology from the Instituto Nacional de Pediatriá (Mexico) between January 1984 to January 1997. A total of 32 clinical prognostic factors were assess in our population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty five patients whose age ranged from 1 to 168 months old, mean of 35 months were included. Out of 32 prognostic factors only 6 including sex (p= 0.0039), metastatic disease to bone (p= 0.003), bone marrow involvement (p= 0.0027), staging system (p= 0.000015), surgical treatment (p 0,0022) and neoadjuvant chemotherapy (p.005) were the most significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was concluded that besides the prognostic factors outlined, neoadjuvant chemotherapy is of utmost importance. It decreases tumor volume and allows surgery to be more successful, therefore believing that this variable represents a specific prognostic factor in cases of advanced neuroblastoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Instituto Nacional de Pediatría, Secretaría de Salud, 04530 Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olaya-Vargas
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rivera-Luna
authors.forename: Rocío
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cárdenas-Cardós
authors.forename: Araceli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Castellanos Toledo
authors.forename: Oscar Alberto
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Pérez González
authors.forename: Julieta
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Robles Castro
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Calderón Elvir
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies