[Children with cancer--great progress, a lot of good news and some disappointments]

Each year, between 125 and 150 children under the age of 15 develop cancer in Norway. More than half of the children are less than five years of age at diagnosis. The malignancy is often of an embryonal origin and the disease spectrum very different from that in adults. Our progress in understanding and treating childhood malignancies is one of the success stories in paediatrics and in cancer biology and management. In the Nordic countries, about three of four children with cancer are cured, but the progress is different in different disease groups. For some malignancies, survival is close to 100%, while progress for other types have been much slower. However, cancer is still the main cause of death in children above one year of age who die of a disease. The progress has its price. The treatment is often intensive, with great morbidity and a definite mortality. Late effects are also of great concern. A more specific therapy targeted against the malignant cell, with less damage to normal cells, has long been our goal. Progress in recent years in the understanding of the malignant cells has now given the first definite examples that such targeted therapy may soon become a reality.