Advanced diagnostic imaging in children and adolescents with solid tumors Staging, risk stratification, and response assessment

Background The spectrum of solid tumors in children and adolescents as well as the concepts of treatment (e.g., bone marrow transplants in solid tumors) differ from those in adults. Almost all children with cancer are included in studies of national and international oncological societies and treated in pediatric oncological centers. Pediatric radiology takes on essential tasks, especially in therapeutic risk stratification and therapy control. Materials and methods Based on a selective literature search in the PubMed database, recent guidelines, and study protocols of the national and international pediatric oncology societies, the imaging standards and the latest developments for selected solid tumor entities were described. The authors who work in pediatric oncology centers discuss embryonic tumors, lymphomas, brain tumors, and tumor predisposition syndromes. Conclusion Both performing and reading of imaging in children with solid tumors are already relatively standardized. Experienced radiologists in certified centers should primarily be involved in this task. In particular, further functional imaging innovations suggest that imaging biomarkers may be used as target parameters in future treatment studies.