What causes cancer in children?When a child develops cancer, everyone has the same question: Why?
In most cases, there is no obvious explanation. Cells in the body sometimes make mistakes when copying themselves, and some of those mistakes can turn into cancer. A few rare types of childhood cancer — such as retinoblastoma, a cancer in the retina of the eye — run in families. In those cases, children may have inherited faulty genes from their parents. There’s also some evidence that children are more likely to develop cancer if their mothers were exposed to large amounts of radiation or harmful chemicals such as pesticides during pregnancy. But for the most part, childhood cancers seem to pick their targets at random. There’s no way to predict which child might develop cancer or to pinpoint the blame when it happens. What types of cancer occur in children?In 2007, about 10,400 children under the age of 15 were diagnosed with cancer. The most common form of cancer in children is leukemia, a type of cancer of the white blood cells. Tumors in the brain and elsewhere in the nervous sy
Related Questions
- What do the experts think are the causes of disproportionality/disparate outcomes for children of color in the child welfare system?
- What causes cancer in children?When a child develops cancer, everyone has the same question: Why?
- My child has cancer. Are clinical trials be available at Diamond Childrens Medical Center?
