The Materno hospital in Malaga detected 70 cancer cases in children in 2021 but the survival rates are good

In 2021 the Materno Infantil Hospital in Malaga detected 70 new cancer cases in children. Forty-nine of them had tumours and there were 21 cases of leukemia. But according to the hospital, the survival rate beyond five years is 81 per cent for patients with tumours and around 90 per cent for patients with leukaemia.

On the International Day of Childhood Cancer, the hospital made the announcement with the nine associations and foundations that make up the United Against Cancer Development Group, whose spokesperson is Pedro González. Two children, Guille and Vero, both previous patients, said that families are pillars on which to lean and asked that volunteers be allowed to return to the hospital, after Covid-19 restrictions prevented them.

The provincial delegate for Health, Carlos Bautista, announced the imminent start-up of the Misión Futuro project responsible for the long-term follow-up of children who have overcome cancer with the aim to prevent it from returning.

The hospital also said it is not just about curing children, but curing them in a better way. The pediatric oncology unit is committed to the development of precision medicine which aims to individualise treatments, adapting them to each patient, their risk group and the molecular characteristics of each tumour, reducing the secondary effects of the drugs.

This type of medicine goes hand in hand with the introduction of sequencing in the diagnostic process of childhood tumours, said child oncologist Laura García. The aim is to identify certain alterations in the tumour's DNA that will allow it to be attacked with specific treatments.

In the last 18 months, 50 cases of childhood cancer have been sequenced in the hospital thanks to the collaboration with the molecular biology laboratory at the CIMES centre, which has allowed children to be treated with targeted treatments.