Neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is a very rare cancer that forms in your child’s nerve tissue when immature nerve cells do not develop normally. Common places for it to begin include the adrenal glands, chest or spinal cord. Your child may exhibit dark circles under his or her eyes, bone pain, bulging eyes or swelling and pain in the abdomen. Young infants may also have trouble breathing or have blue lumps under the skin. Neuroblastoma is the most common cancer in infants, with the average age of diagnosis under two years.

Discover Our Difference

Doctors with University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital are experts in the treatment of neuroblastoma. This gives our team a rare understanding of this uncommon cancer. In fact, the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital is the only facility in Minnesota able to offer targeted therapy using radioiodine-labeled metaiodobenzylguanidine (I¹³¹-MIBG) for children with recurrent or difficult-to-treat neuroblastomas. Learn more about MIBG treatment.

In addition, the University of Minnesota houses the only National Cancer Institute-funded Children’s Oncology Group phase 1 program in Minnesota. This means we offer more clinical trials than any other children’s hospital in the state. New treatments are discovered and applied here first, often becoming national standards of care.

Current open trials include one to help determine the best treatment for a child’s neuroblastoma based on genetic material and another to study the survivorship of patients with high risk or relapsed solid tumors. Ask your child’s physician about participating in a clinical trial.