[New international staging system and classification of risk groups in neuroblastoma]

Combinations of many different prognostic factors are used for correct qualification of neuroblastoma patients to the risk group and optimal choice of therapy. However, factors selected worldwide for this qualification are not uniform. The International Neuroblastoma Risk Group (INRG) was established to evaluate and select the most important prognostic factors in different forms of NBL as well as to create a system that allows evaluation of stage and risk group on the basis of pre-surgical imaging only, not requiring surgical resection and histopathological evaluation of lymph nodes, like in the International Neuroblastoma Staging System (INSS). Presurgical definition of risk groups facilitates the comparison of the results of studies let in different centers, also in patients observed without surgery and let further development of multicentre international studies. In the paper, the criteria of international classification to the risk groups depending on the presence of established risk factors are presented. Therapy should be individually selected for each specified group. The classification will be probably modified when the new prognostic criteria are discovered.