[Improved prognosis in Wilms' tumor due to adjuvant combination drug therapy]

78 children with Wilms' tumor stage I--IV diagnosed since 1960 are presented. There were two groups of patients: one group consisting of 35 patients which received adjuvant chemotherapy for 1 year, the other group consisting of 43 patients which received no chemotherapy. Surgical excision and irradiation was identical in both groups. The prognosis was greatly improved by adjuvant chemotherapy: 4-year survival rates increased from 25 to 69%. Late side effects from radiation and chemotherapy were noted: 15/78 patients suffered from scoliosis and all patients treated by chemotherapy had a decreased lymphotoxin activity over years. The following factors appear to be related to prognosis: the extent of disease in patients determined by better techniques, histopathology of the tumor, and the nature of treatment.