Wilms Tumor Directory
Wilms tumor is a kidney cancer that usually affects children. Causes are unknown, but many cases are highly curable if the tumor has not spread. Follow the links below to find WebMD's comprehensive coverage about Wilms tumor, symptoms, how to treat it, and much more.
Wilms Tumor and Other Childhood Kidney Tumors Treatment (PDQ®): Treatment - Health Professional Information [NCI]-Primary Renal Synovial Sarcoma
Approximately 15% of patients with favorable histology Wilms tumor and 50% of patients with anaplastic Wilms tumor experience recurrence. Historically, the salvage rate for patients with recurrent favorable histology Wilms tumor was 25% to 40%. As a result of modern treatment combinations, the outcome after recurrence has increased up to 60%.[2,3] A number of potential prognostic features influencing outcome post-recurrence have been analyzed, but it is difficult to separate whether these factors are independent of each other. In addition, the following prognostic factors appear to be changing over time as therapy for primary and recurrent Wilms tumor evolves:Anaplastic histology.Advanced tumor stage.Gender: Gender was predictive of outcome, with males faring worse than females.[2,5]NWTS-5 showed that time to recurrence and site of recurrence were no longer prognostically significant.[2,5] However, patients who experienced a pulmonary relapse within 12 months of diagnosis
Wilms Tumor and Other Childhood Kidney Tumors Treatment (PDQ®): Treatment - Health Professional Information [NCI]-Wilms Tumor
Wilms TumorAlthough most patients with a histologic diagnosis of Wilms tumor fare well with current treatment, approximately 10% of patients have histopathologic features that are associated with a poorer prognosis, and in some types, with a high incidence of relapse and death. Wilms tumor can be separated into three prognostic groups on the basis of histopathology—favorable histology, anaplastic histology, and nephrogenic rests. Favorable histologyHistologically, Wilms tumor mimics development of a normal kidney consisting of three cell types: blastemal, epithelial (tubules), and stromal. Not all tumors are triphasic, and monophasic patterns may present diagnostic difficulties. While associations between histologic features and prognosis or responsiveness to therapy have been suggested, with the exception of anaplasia, none of these features have reached statistical significance and therefore do not direct the initial therapy.Anaplastic histologyAnaplastic
Wilms Tumor and Other Childhood Kidney Tumors Treatment (PDQ®): Treatment - Health Professional Information [NCI]-Cystic Partially Differentiated Nephroblastoma
When diagnosed in the first 7 months of life, the 5-year event-free survival rate is 94% and the overall survival rate is 96%. In a report from the United Kingdom of 50 children with mesoblastic nephroma studied on clinical trials and 80 cases from the national registry in the same time period, there were no deaths.A prospective clinical trial that enrolled 50 patients confirmed that complete surgical resection, which includes the entire capsule, is adequate therapy for most patients with mesoblastic nephroma. In this study, only 2 of 50 patients died. Patients were at increased risk for local and eventually metastatic recurrence if there was stage III (incomplete resection and/or histologically positive resection margin), cellular subtype, and aged 3 months or older at diagnosis. Because of the small numbers of patients and the overlapping incidence of these characteristics (5 of 50 patients), the significance of the individual characteristics could not be discriminated.
Wilms Tumor and Other Childhood Kidney Tumors Treatment (PDQ®): Treatment - Health Professional Information [NCI]-General Information About Childhood Kidney Tumors
Cancer in children and adolescents is rare, although the overall incidence of childhood cancer has been slowly increasing since 1975. Children and adolescents with cancer need to be referred to medical centers that have multidisciplinary teams of cancer specialists with experience treating the cancers that occur during childhood and adolescence. This multidisciplinary team approach incorporates the skills of the primary care physician, pediatric surgical subspecialists, radiation oncologists, pediatric medical oncologists/hematologists, rehabilitation specialists, pediatric nurse specialists, social workers, and others to ensure that children receive treatment, supportive care, and rehabilitation that will achieve optimal survival and quality of life. (Refer to the PDQ Supportive and Palliative Care summaries for more information.) Guidelines for pediatric cancer centers and their role in the treatment of pediatric patients with cancer have been outlined by the American Academy