5 Most Frequently Cancer Attacking Kids

Cancer is not just an adult disease, but also can affect children even if indeed there are not too many. Although all parts of the body can get cancer, there is a type of cancer that is more often found in children.

"Cancer kids just 2-4 percent of all cases of cancer in humans. But 10 percent of cancer causing death in children," said Dr. Mururul Aisyi, SpA of Functional Medical Staff of Hematology-Oncology Children's Cancer Hospital Dharmais in the extension of childhood cancer in West Jakarta, Tuesday (20/12/2011).

As presented by Dr. Mururul, the following five types of cancer most often found in children.

1. Leukemia (blood cancer)
Compared to other types of cancer, leukemia or cancer of white blood is a type of cancer most commonly found in children. Based on the development of the disease, acute leukemia more common in children than chronic leukemia.

Symptoms to look out for the leukemia is pale or lethargic, fever without apparent reason as well as nosebleeds or bleeding either in the form of red spots on the skin such as dengue fever. If you find these signs, immediately take the child to the clinic for blood tests or hospital.

If it's too late to get treatment, cancer cells can spread to the liver and kidneys so that the child's abdomen appears enlarged. Spread of cancer cells in leukemia can also reach the bone, gums and even the testicles in boys.

2. Retinoblastoma (eye cancer)
The type of cancer that attacks the eyes are common in infants up to age 5 years, most in the age of 2-3 years. Just as leukemia, retinoblastoma or cancer of the eye can also be spread to bone, spinal cord and central nervous system.

Symptoms often appear at the early stage eye cancer is the cat eye syndrome (white pupil), squint (strabismus), eye and tissue inflammation (cellulitis). Protruding eyeballs (bupthalmos) showed that the cancer is already at an advanced stage.

3. Osteosarcoma (bone cancer)
Bone cancer or osteosarcoma often occurs at the age of a teenager or over 10 years, most often found at the age of 15-19 years. When disaggregated by gender, boys tend to be more at risk of developing this cancer than women.

Early symptoms of bone cancer almost like arthritis in adults, the pain is severe and does not go away (persistent), especially at night. The difference is, the pain is mainly derived from the upper arm bone or upper thigh instead of the joints such as arthritis.

In addition, the bone that has been stricken with cancer will be fragile, so easily broken bones. In order for the bone cancer had not spread, for is not currently available alternative but amputation of parts that have been encroached on cancer.

4. Neuroblastoma (nerve cancer)
Cancer that affects the sympathetic nervous system is dominated 10 percent of all cancer cases in children. Most are found in newborn babies up to age 4 years, with a comparison of cases in boys 1.2 times more than girls.

The characteristics that indicate early symptoms of neuroblastoma include a lump in the abdomen and bleeding in the eye. Bleeding in Amata will give a bluish color in sekutar eye bags, so called as the raccoon eye syndrome (racoon's eye syndrome).

5. Lymphoma Malignum
Cancer that attacks the lymphoid tissue is most commonly found in children aged 7-10 years. Boys tend to be more vulnerable than girls to be exposed to this type of cancer, with a ratio between 2.5 to 1.

The characteristics of the beginning is a lump of 2 cm or more around the neck, armpits and groin without any pain. The lump is often urged the chest cavity, causing the sufferer experiencing shortness of breath.