Why has the cure rate for childhood cancer risen so much further and faster than the cure rate for adult cancers?
For the past 40 years, childhood cancer research-physicians have worked cooperatively at institutions throughout North America, setting up clinical trials, and collectively studying the results. During that time, the cure rate has risen from almost zero to well over 75% for children with cancer. Adults are usually treated at individual institutions and are rarely enrolled in clinical trials, and so the research results have been less dramatic. However, new treatment techniques resulting from childhood cancer research often have application for adult cancer patients. For example, chemotherapy was first used on children with cancer.
