Pediatric Oncology: A Medical Overview

Abstract

This chapter discusses the medical aspects of pediatric cancer, valuable to readers with little or no background in biomedical sciences and medical practice. It considers the etiology, clinical symptoms, diagnostic procedures, and different kinds of treatments of childhood cancers, and discusses the characteristics and late effects of the most common kinds of pediatric malignancies, including leukemias, brain tumors, lymphomas, and bone tumors. It helps those who are relatively unfamiliar with medical issues in pediatric oncology to better appreciate the nature of this disease and to establish a context for the discussion of psychological issues in the chapters that follow.