Brain Cancer Is Now the Leading Cancer Killer of Kids – NBCNews.com

Alexandra Munoz, 5, who lost her hair due to chemotherapy to treat a malignant brain tumor, climbs stairs in the cancer ward of the Luis Calvo Mackenna Hospital in Santiago on October 20, 2014. Rodrigo Garrido / REUTERS

“In 2014, it is estimated that 15,780 children and adolescents ages 0 to 19 years will be diagnosed with cancer and 1,960 will die of the disease in the United States,” the National Cancer Institute says.

“It is important to remember that there is nothing these children or their parents could have done to prevent these cancers.”

Boys are about one-third more likely to die of childhood cancer than girls for reasons that are not entirely clear. But it’s one health area where there aren’t many racial disparities: black children are no more likely to get cancer than white children are.

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Most

childhood cancers are mysterious. Sometimes, the same processes that cause children to grow so rapidly go a little haywire and cause tumors instead, the American Cancer Society says.

A few are inherited. About 25 to 30 percent of cases of the

eye cancer retinoblastoma are caused by an inherited mutation in a gene called RB1.

“Most gene changes are probably just random events that sometimes happen inside a cell, without having an outside cause,” it adds.

“Other than

radiation, there are no known lifestyle-related or environmental causes of childhood brain tumors, so it is important to remember that there is nothing these children or their parents could have done to prevent these cancers.”

Other common pediatric cancer killers in 2014, according to the NCHS:

• Bone and cartilage cancer – 10 percent
• Thyroid and other endocrine glands – 9 percent
• Mesothelial and soft tissue – 7.7 percent