Incidence of neuroblastoma in infancy in Japan.

Since 1974, we have been mass screening for neuroblastoma in 6-month-old infants using a VMA (vanilmandelic acid) spot test in Kyoto City. Fifteen (48.4%) of the 31 childhood neuroblastoma cases registered in this city during the recent 8-year-period, 1974-1982, were under 1 year of age. The annual number of cases per year was 3.9 cases under 15 years with 1.9 cases under 1 year of age. As the number of children under 15 years of age in this city was 292,000 according to the National Census of the Human Population in 1975, the annual incidence of this tumor in childhood was 3.9/292,000 (13.3/million). And as the number of live births was 161,153, the annual detection rate for this tumor in infancy increased to 15/161,153 (93/million) from 1974 to 1982. We found that many neuroblastomas could be detected in infancy by a VMA spot test and/or a careful physical examination.