The role of surgery in non-localized neuroblastoma. Analysis of 59 cases

The authors considered 59 stage III and IV neuroblastoma cases, which were observed from January 1967 to June 1979. 13 patients (13/59 = 22%) are surviving in complete remission 3 years after surgery: 9/20 (45%) with stage III and 4/39 (10%) with stage IV disease. The children subjected to complete surgical excision are all alive irregardless of age; the children who were not operated on or subjected to a biopsy, have all died. Of the 33 patients who underwent a reductive excision, 6 (all under 2 years of age) are in complete remission (18%). A better prognosis was found in those patients in whom the site of the primary tumor was at the mediastinal level. These data show the importance of the role of the surgeon in the multidisciplinary treatment of stage III and IV neuroblastomas; our experience is also favorable to the practice of second-look surgery.