Childhood cancer in New Zealand 1990 to 1993

An epidemiological study of childhood cancer in New Zealand identified 409 children aged 0 to 14 years with malignant neoplasms newly diagnosed betwee n 1990 and 1993 inclusive. The original microscopic material on which the d iagnoses were based was reviewed in 398 cases and the neoplasms were alloca ted into the 12 major groupings and 48 further subcategories of the interna tional Classification of Childhood Cancer (ICCC). The pathology reviewers a greed with group and subcategory classification of the confirmed cancers in all but one case of acute leukemia and three cancers of the central nervou s system. Changes were also made in the FAB classification of three cases o f acute non-lymphocytic leukemia and in the further subcategorisation of th ree Hodgkin's lymphomas and ten astrocytomas. The results show a high level of diagnostic accuracy for confirmed childhood neoplasms in that time peri od. Nine of 15 cases of malignant melanoma notified to the study were not c onfirmed for various reasons, which included a change in the pathological d iagnosis in four cases. Compared with Victoria (Australia), New Zealand has a high incidence rate of lymphomas in boys and an unusual female preponder ance of Wilms' tumor cases.