Our ultimate goal is successfully treating patients with neuroblastoma and ensuring their quality of life after treatment. For patients who began their treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and achieved complete remission, most relapses have occurred within three years from diagnosis. Relapses can, however, occur five years after diagnosis, and unfortunately there is no time period after which we can say definitively that a patient will not relapse. Nevertheless, by three years after diagnosis, our concern for our patients' health shifts from relapse to the long-term effects of cancer treatment, and that is when the patients' care is transitioned from the neuroblastoma program to the Long-Term Follow-Up Program. The team of doctors, nurse practitioners, social workers, and others who make up the Long-Term Follow-Up Program is expert at screening for, monitoring, treating, and coordinating the care for medical issues that may arise as a result of having been treated for neuroblastoma.
One question many parents have concerns immunizations. As of early 2008, we have a protocol for childhood inoculations that begins six to nine months after the end of chemotherapy treatments.
