The crucial role of tumour specimen handling in childhood cancer outcomes

The significant advances achieved in the care of children with cancer have been the result of carefully conducted clinical trials in international cooperative group settings. Specialized biological testing of tumour specimens is now an essential component of risk and treatment assignment for many childhood cancers. Thus, the appropriate collection and handling of tumour specimens is crucial to maintaining and further advancing the excellent outcomes that we have achieved. We recommend that all children with a strongly suspected malignancy, or cases in which the situation is unclear, be discussed with a paediatric oncologist before obtaining a tumour specimen. When a tumour is discovered incidentally at surgery, we recommend that the tumour be placed in a saline-soaked gauze and a paediatric pathologist or oncologist contacted immediately. Further progress in understanding and treating childhood cancer is intimately linked to basic studies of biology, translational research and determining the role of biological markers in risk stratification. Early and careful collaboration between front-line physicians and tertiary care oncology specialists is essential to the continuing success of treatment of children with cancer.