Head and Neck Cancer in Children: A Retrospective Study

Background: Although head and neck masses represent a common entity in children, malignancy is uncommon. Only very limited data are available in the literature on the incidence of childhood cancer of the head and neck worldwide. Data from the United States National Cancer Institute database suggest that the head and neck are involved in 12 % of all childhood malignancies. The most common pediatric head and neck malignancies include Non Hodgkin lymphomas, Hodgkin lymphomas, rhabdomyosarcomas, thyroid malignancies, nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPCs), salivary gland malignancies, and neuroblastomas. Patients \& Methods: A hospital-based study, involving Pediatric cancer patients, those diagnosed with malignant tumors of the head \& neck, in the period from 2001 January till 2015 December, and received treatment at the pediatric oncology department, their medical records will be retrospectively reviewed for data collection. Clinico-laboratory data for each hisopathologic disease entity of various head \& neck malignancies will be gathered. The demographic distribution for each disease entity in accordance with gender \& age, and site preferences in these disease entities will be recorded. Treatment received \& treatment outcomes will be verified and absolute frequencies \& relative incidence of these disease entities will be calculated.