title: Single-centre study reports a 84% five-year overall survival rate for paediatric solid tumours.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the characteristics and outcome of paediatric patients with solid tumours diagnosed and treated at the Tampere University Hospital, one of the five tertiary referral centres in Finland, for children and adolescents with malignancies.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective cohort study collected data from hospital medical records on survival, diagnosis, age, sex, tumour size and stage at diagnosis. We also observed the disease recurrence and use of autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Data analyses were carried out with the Kaplan-Meier method, various nonparametric and parametric tests, and Cox regression modelling.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Between 1987 and May 2015, 424 children (59% boys), with a median age of 6.4 (IQR 2.5-11.8) years at diagnosis, were diagnosed and followed up for a median of 7.5 (range 0-27.9) years. Central nervous system (CNS) tumours were the most common (38%), followed by lymphomas (19%), soft tissue sarcomas (10%), renal tumours (9%) and neuroblastomas (9%). The five-year overall survival rate of all solid tumour patients was 84% (95% CI, 81-88%), 82% (95% CI, 76-89%) for CNS and 85% (95% CI, 80-90%) for non-CNS tumours. Advanced tumour stage at diagnosis predicted a poor prognosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The treatment results in our study are comparable with those previously published. A comprehensive local database allows for a timely follow-up of the characteristics and quality of treatment of childhood malignancies.
authors.affiliation: Tampere Center for Child Health Research, University of Tampere and Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Eero
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Teppo
authors.affiliation: Pirkanmaa Hospital District Science Centre, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Jarkko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Penttinen
authors.affiliation: Tampere Center for Child Health Research, University of Tampere and Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Outi
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Myöhänen
authors.affiliation: University of Helsinki and the Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vettenranta
authors.affiliation: Tampere Center for Child Health Research, University of Tampere and Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Olli
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Lohi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate
keywords: Paediatric; Prognosis; Solid tumours