Neuroblastoma

At Atrium Health Levine Children’s, we know every child with cancer deserves care that’s designed specifically for them. Our pediatric oncologists are experts in neuroblastoma, and they’ll evaluate your child and match them with therapies that offer the best chance of beating their disease.

We also understand that cancer touches every aspect of your child’s life, and we’re here to help your family cope with challenges like stress and transitioning back to school.

Neuroblastoma – what to expect from Levine Children’s

Here’s why families come to Levine Children’s for neuroblastoma care:

• Innovative treatments. We offer the newest, most precise therapies, including clinical trials of treatments only available at a handful of hospitals.
• A comprehensive care team. Each child’s care team includes surgeons, oncologists and radiologists, all specializing in pediatrics. We also connect patients with other experts, like child psychologists and tutors. Together, this team delivers everything your child needs, during treatment and beyond.
• Customized treatment plans. We evaluate each child from every angle and create a treatment plan just for them. This matches your child with therapies that will be most effective against neuroblastoma.
• Support from the Isabella Santos Foundation (ISF). The ISF’s generous donations have helped Levine Children’s acquire state-of-the-art tools and technologies for treating neuroblastoma and other cancers. This includes our MIBG therapy suite, where we fight neuroblastoma with highly targeted radiation therapy. The ISF also helped us create the Isabella Santos Rare and Solid Tumors Program, which delivers innovative therapies for a variety of tumors.

Treatments for neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma occurs when nerve cells – called neuroblasts – grow too fast and form tumors. These tumors usually start when neuroblasts are still developing, which means neuroblastoma is most common in infants and young kids.

Our team carefully selects the treatment that’s right for your child. Sometimes this means using just one type of therapy to try and eliminate neuroblastoma. Other times, we combine therapies. Our treatments include:

• Chemotherapy, using medicine designed to kill cancer cells and keep them from coming back.
• Surgery to remove tumors. Our specialized pediatric surgeons use the latest, most precise techniques. This minimizes damage to healthy tissue around tumors.
• Immunotherapy, which activates the immune system to hunt down cancer cells.
• Radiation therapy, using targeted beams of energy to kill cancer cells. We also offer proton therapy, a type of radiation therapy that’s more targeted and more precise.
• Metaiodobenzylguanidine therapy, or MIBG. We’re one of the few pediatric hospitals that has an MIBG therapy suite. MIBG therapy is a type of radiation that’s more powerful and more effective than standard radiation. It can be a good option for patients whose neuroblastoma comes back.
• Clinical trials, which give some children access to promising new therapies before they’re widely available.
• Naxitamab, a drug used to treat patients who have experienced multiple relapses from neuroblastoma in the bone or bone marrow. We're the first site in the Charlotte region and one of the first sites in the US to offer this therapy.