The Princess Máxima Center in Utrecht will treat a large number of children with neuroblastoma in a different way. This results in fewer side effects and the children need to be admitted to hospital less often.
According to KiKa, a foundation that raises money for research into childhood cancer, neuroblastoma is diagnosed approximately 25 times a year in the Netherlands. The disease is most common in children under the age of six and the tumor is often found in the adrenal medulla in the abdomen and sometimes in the chest cavity, pelvis or neck.
Most of the children diagnosed with neuroblastoma can now be treated at home, according to the Princess Máxima Center. The pump that delivers the medicine fits in a backpack, so that children have more freedom of movement and, for example, can go back to school.
Medicine
Dinutuximab, the neuroblastoma drug, is also being administered in a new way. As a result, there are fewer side effects, but the effect of the drug remains the same. In anticipation of the new treatment protocol, children have already been treated with so-called immunotherapy in recent months.
“A few years ago, children still had to go to America for this treatment,” a mother of a child with the disease told the Princess Máxima Center. “We live an hour and a half’s drive from the Máxima, so we came to Utrecht for a day to connect and change the cassette. Our daughter felt good and went to school every day with her practical backpack. ”
–
