Radical surgery for abdominal neuroblastoma

Radical operation predominantly for those with stages III and IV, i.e., locally advanced and/or metastatic abdominal neuroblastoma, is described. Generally the surgery has been performed when tumour shrinkage has been achieved by means of chemotherapy, and metastases have been ablated. The author compares his results in 46 patients with those of 34 patients undergoing less aggressive surgery performed by a number of surgeons, with similar results. Given the difficulties inherent in performing curative resection for disseminated abdominal neuroblastoma, the surgeon needs to be convinced that his/her efforts are worthwhile. The results reported here do not provide such reassurance.