course of the disease for leukemia, which is the most common cancer, McGregor says.
However, screening is recommended for the approximately 10% of children who have a genetic predisposition to childhood cancer, doctors note.
Sometimes parents aren’t aware of this genetic tendency until one family member is diagnosed, and then others can be tested, shares Dr. Daniel McKeone, director of the Pediatric Cancer Predisposition Clinic at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, one of 50 of its kind in the United States.
Among those inherited risks are “familial adenomatous polyposis,” which carries a risk for several types of cancer including colon and liver. Children with this risk will be screened with ultrasounds and blood tests every six months while their risk is highest, until age 7. Then they will be screened with endoscopies starting at age 10, when their colon cancer risk increases.
RELATED: Childhood Cancer Survivors Living Longer But Not Always Better
Another inherited risk is Li-Fraumeni syndrome, which is caused by a mutation in the TP53 gene. That gene normally acts as a tumor suppressor. These children need whole-body surveillance with regular MRIs because they’re at higher risk of developing any kind of cancer.
Risks from another well-known gene mutation of the BRCA gene, which can cause breast and ovarian cancers, don’t typically show up until young adulthood.
With most of these cancer genetic syndromes, children carry a 50% risk of inheriting the gene mutation from a parent, McKeone says.
More than 15,000 children and young adults receive a cancer diagnosis each year in the United States, and nearly 2,000 kids under age 19 die from this leading killer of children by disease. The five-year survival rate for childhood cancers is 80%, the experts note.
Your knowledge will help your child’s care team come to a diagnosis if they are displaying any of the warning signs.
If your child is diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric cancer, it is important that you take the following measures to get your child proper care and help ease their mind, according to the National Cancer Institute:
● learn about the cancer, how it will be treated, and what to expect during treatment
● manage and deal with painful treatments or procedures
● cope with feelings and get social support
● have some control over the situation
● let them know they are loved, supported, and surrounded by people who care about them