[Complications of treatment of neuroblastoma]

This article is based on two patients whose tumorous growths were successfully treated and who were cured of tumours and whose treatment had severe consequences. In one female patient, surgical removal of the tumour from the thoracic cavity resulted in haemorrhage into the spinal canal, leading to an irreversible transverse lesion of the cord with paraplegia. In the second patient, irradation with x-rays resulted in extremely severe radiation damage ultimately causing the death of the patient. Within the framework of this discussion, these problems are illuminated in detail. The emphasis is on severe damage in patients in whom the tumour itself has been cured in the course of the requisite therapeutic procedure. The author draws special attention to a stage-correlated treatment of neuroblastoma.