Walsh & Hoyt: Neuroblastoma

Neuroblastomas are one of the most common childhood tumors, accounting for 1015% of malignancies in pediatric centers. They are malignant tumors of embryonic neuroblastic tissue and may arise anywhere such tissue is normally found. The adrenal medulla is the most common site. Other peripheral sites include the retroperitoneal parasympathetic and sympathetic tissue, the mediastinal and cervical sympathetic ganglia, and the orbit. Peripheral neuroblastomas rarely metastasize to the CNS, but neuroblastomas may occur as a primary neoplasm within the CNS. Primary intracranial neuroblastomas most often arise in the olfactory groove or within the cerebral hemispheres.