An overview of cancer in children in the 1980s.

Multidisciplinary teams, therapeutic research, and large successful clinical trials have led to the exciting improved survival outlook in pediatric oncology. The development of sophisticated supportive care measures and the identification of significant prognostic variables within disease categories have dramatically altered the management and outcome for many children with cancer. Prolonged survival has focused attention on the quality of life and strategies to enable these children and their families to cope effectively with chronic, life-threatening illness. Research is ongoing on several fronts: to find innovative treatment approaches for children who currently have a poorer prognosis, to minimize or prevent acute and late toxicities by modifying treatment plans so less intensive treatment can be given to patients with a low risk of disease recurrence, and to increase our understanding of the epidemiology and etiology of childhood cancer. With the continued efforts of researchers in the laboratory and at the bedside, prevention of these catastrophic diseases may some day become a reality.