Surgicopathologic staging of neuroblastoma: prognostic significance of regional lymph node metastases.

Of 254 children with neuroblastoma treated at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 102 (40%) had clinically localized tumors. Using a surgicopathologic staging system, 66 of these 102 children had localized tumor and 36 had tumor dissemination to regional lymph nodes. Survival of these two groups has been markedly different; 57 of 66 (87%) with localized tumor survive, compared with 11 of 35 (33%) with node dissemination, five of whom are less than two years from diagnosis. Our data indicate that the prognosis for children with neuroblastoma metastatic only to regional lymph nodes is no different from that of patients of similar age with widely disseminated tumor.