Neuroblastomas are a type of cancer that develops in primitive nerve cells, called neuroblasts, which are left over in the body from the embryonic stage of development, before birth.

Neuroblastoma is rare. Only about 75 new cases are diagnosed in the UK each year. Overall it accounts for about 6 out of every 100 cases of cancer in children under the age of 15.

9 out of 10 neuroblastomas occur during the first 5 years of life, and 4 out of 10 are discovered before the age of one year. The condition is very rare indeed in older children. It is very slightly more common in boys than girls.

In more than 9 out 10 cases of neuroblastoma the cancer cells will take up a chemical called meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG).In recent years it has become possible to attach a radio-active isotope of iodine, 131I, to MIBG. This 'radio-labelling' of MIBG can be used in two ways in the care of children with neuroblastoma.

Firstly, it can help in the detection of secondary cancers, metastases. A low dose of radio-iodine labelled MIBG can be injected into a vein and this will be taken up by neuroblastoma cells. Scans can then look for uptake of the chemical in the body. MIBG scans have become a very sensitive and accurate way of looking for spread of neuroblastomas.

In the same way much higher doses of radio-active iodine, attached to MIBG, can be used to concentrate the iodine in tumour cells, giving a very localised, and concentrated, form of radiotherapy, which can kill off the cancer.  This is a new approach to treatment but it is being increasingly used in children who have more advanced, or widespread, neuroblastoma, or in children where the neuroblastoma has come back after more conventional treatment.