More children are surviving cancer because of improved diagnostic methods and targeted treatment, figures from Dutch cancer data registration body NKR have shown.

Some 600 children between birth and 18 are diagnosed with cancer in the Netherlands every year. Of the children who were found to have the disease between 2010 and 2018, 84% were alive five years later. Of the children diagnosed between 1990 and 1990, 74% survived the first five years.

“Fortunately the last decades are showing an upward trend,” oncologist Henrike Karim-Ros of the Dutch cancer centre IKNL told broadcaster NOS. “In children with leukemia, in particular, great strides have been made. But the data also tells us we are not there yet,” she said.

Leukemia is one of the most common types of cancer in children. The survival rate has now climbed to 88% after five years compared to 74% in the 1990s.

“Thirty years ago, all children with leukemia were given the same treatment. Now we treat them according to the characteristics of the cancerous cells, which we now know more about,” Karim-Ros said.

The childhood cancer with the highest survival rate is Hodgkin’s lymphoma (98%). High-grade gliomas, or tumours of the brain, are among the deadliest cancers in children, with a survival rate of just 7% after five years.

“Many children still face a bad prognosis and we are still faced with tumours that are hard to treat,” said René Medema of the Princess Máxima Centre for children with cancer.

“That is why it is so important for care professionals and researchers here and abroad to work together so we can forge ahead with treatments that will cure all children with cancer and give them the best quality of life possible.”