Early diagnosis of childhood cancer is important to improve the survival of pediatric patients and avoid the high mortality that comes with late diagnosis of this pathology. This narrative review article presents the importance of early diagnosis of childhood cancer and the various strategies developed in recent years in Latin America and Peru in conjunction with international organizations.

Introduction: Primary central nervous system (CNS) sarcomas are one of the rarest tumors in pediatrics, and an increase in the frequency of these cases has been observed in Peru. This article describes the clinical, demographic characteristics, and survival of pediatric patients with this condition diagnosed at the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases (INEN). Methods: This is a descriptive observational case series study of a retrospective longitudinal design. Data was collected from 51 patients aged 0-18 years diagnosed with malignant CNS sarcoma between 2009 and 2019 at INEN, and statistical analysis was conducted using the STATA software program. Results: The male-to-female ratio was 1.23. The most common birthplace was Lima. The average age was 7.6 years, and the most frequent location was supratentorial (96.08%; 49/51). There was only one patient with leptomeningeal metastasis....

Radiation therapy-induced high-degree gliomas (RIGs) are a rare complication with an ominous prognosis. Little is known about the underlying biology of RIGs, although some studies have suggested that there are no unique histologic or cytogenetic features to distinguish them from de novo glioblastomas. Two cases that meet the criteria to be considered RIG are reported, and pertinent pieces of literature are discussed. Two patients under 10 years of age, neither of whom had relevant genetic or clinical history, were diagnosed with primary cerebral gliomas at the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases in Lima and, after radiation therapy cycles, developed high-degree secondary gliomas, confirmed in both patients by a histopathologic analysis. This report emphasizes the need to identify risk factors, molecular mechanisms of tumor development after radiotherapy, and probable therapeutic ta...