Clinical appearance of neuroblastoma 10 years after screening

A follow-up study was performed for children with previous repeated positive results by neuroblastoma mass screening and negative clinical results (30 out of 439,128 children screened in Austria between 1991 and 2003, median follow-up 113 months). Four children had continuously elevated urine catecholamines for more than 6 months. One of these patients was diagnosed with pelvic neuroblastoma and multiple metastases 10 years after the first positive screening result. In the light of a 'wait and see' strategy for localized neuroblastomas, our observation suggests that these patients should be further observed even after normalization of urine catecholamines.