Neuroblastoma Pediatric Oncology Care in India with GetWellGo

GetWellGo offers expert neuroblastoma pediatric oncology care in India with advanced treatments like chemotherapy, surgery, and immunotherapy, ensuring hope and specialized support for children.

Neuroblastoma Pediatric Oncology Care in India with GetWellGo

  • Category

    Oncology

  • Published By

    GetWellGo Team

  • Updated on

    04-Nov-2025

Neuroblastoma in India

Neuroblastoma is a form of cancer that is formed as a result of immature nerve cells (neuroblasts) and mostly occurs in infants and young children typically below the age of 5. It normally starts in the adrenal glands which are located in the top of the kidneys, however, it may also start in the chest, abdomen, neck or spinal cord where clusters of nerve cells are found.

Overview

  • Type Pediatric sympathetic nervous system cancer.
  • Frequently Occurring Age Group: Below 5 years old.
  • Origin: Neural crest cells (ancestors of the sympathetic nervous system)
  • Localization: Adrenal gland (most frequent), chest, neck, pelvis, or spinal area.

Neuroblastoma treatment in India

Neuroblastoma is a cancer type that has originated out of immature nerve cells usually located in the adrenal glands, but may also be found in the neck, chest, abdomen or spine. It mostly occurs in children whose age is usually below 5 years.

The treatment depends on such factors as:

  • Age of the child
  • Stage of the cancer
  • Tumor biology (genetic markers, MYCN amplification)
  • Overall health

Main Treatment Options

Surgery

  • Goal: Debulking. Debulk the tumor.
  • Indications of use: When the tumor is local and resectable, it is often the initial move.

Chemotherapy

  • Purpose: Reduces tumors prior to surgery (neoadjuvant) or eliminates the residual cancer cells after surgery (adjuvant).

Common drugs used:

  • Cyclophosphamide
  • Doxorubicin
  • Vincristine
  • Cisplatin
  • Etoposide
  • Multidrug chemotherapy is usually intensive in the case of high-risk neuroblastoma.

Radiation Therapy

  • Purpose: Destroy cancer cells which cannot be destroyed by surgery or to manage metastasis.
  • Routinely employed: In case of high-risk or residual tumors.
  • Types: External radiation or local radiation such as MIBG therapy.

MBG Therapy (Metaiodobenzylguanidine)

  • Purpose: Treatment of neuroblastoma cells with radioactivity.
  • Indications: High-risk or relapsed neuroblastoma.
  • Mechanism: MIBG is taken up in cancer cells and provides local radiations.

Immunotherapy

  • Function: Enhance the immune system to fight cancer.

Common drugs:

  • Dinutuximab (anti- GD2 antigen on neuroblastoma cells)
  • Usually used together with cytokines, such as GM-CSF and IL-2.
  • Used: Usual occurrence in high risk cases after chemotherapy and stem cell transplant.

Stem Cell Transplant (Autologous)

  • Utility: Replacement of bone marrow following high dose chemotherapy.
  • Indications: High-risk neuroblastoma, typically in the post-initial-chemotherapy period.
  • Advantage: Takes advantage of the fact that more cancer cells can be killed by using higher doses of chemotherapy.

Targeted Therapy

  • Purpose: Genetic mutation/pathway-specific tumor-cell drugs.

Examples:

  • ALK inhibitors (with ALK mutation in tumors)
  • Other clinical trial agents that are undergoing experiments.

Risk-Based Approach

Neuroblastoma is classified into:

  • Low-risk: Can be treated with surgery alone; prognosis is excellent.
  • Intermediate-risk: Moderate chemotherapy + surgery.
  • Risks: Intensive multi-modal (chemo + surgery + radiation + immunotherapy + stem cell transplant) therapy.

Supportive Care

  • Pain management
  • Prevention of infection (particularly in the post chemotherapy period)
  • Nutrition support
  • Child and family emotional and psychological support.

New and Adoptive Therapies

  • New immunotherapies and CAR-T cell therapy, as well as targeted drugs, are undergoing clinical trials.
  • Trials in early stages can be contemplated in case of relapsed or refractory neuroblastoma.

Best hospital for neuroblastoma in India

Factors Affecting Neuroblastoma surgery cost in India

Treatment of neuroblastoma in India may have an extremely high cost depending on a number of factors including the stage of the disease, treatment modalities, choice of hospital, and consideration of patients. Here's a detailed breakdown:

Stage & Risk Category

  • Low-Risk: This is usually surgery or low dose chemotherapy. Costs are relatively lower.
  • Intermediate-Risk: It involves surgery with chemotherapy. The costs are escalated through further treatment sessions.
  • High-Risk: Is a multifaceted treatment that entails surgery, several chemotherapy cycles, radiation treatment, stem cell transplant, and immunotherapy. This category is the most expensive that could cost 1015 times higher than low-risk cases. 

Modalities of treatment and costs of treatment

  • Surgical Removal of tumor: This is more expensive, depending on the complexity and the hospital. 
  • Chemotherapy: The cost of each cycle was lower. The overall price will be determined by the required number of cycles. 
  • Radiation Therapy: It is cheaper on a session-to-session basis than chemotherapy. Some more sophisticated methods such as Proton Therapy may be costly. 
  • Stem Cell Transplant: A transplant with autologous is more expensive whereas an allogeneic transplant can be cheaper.
  • Immunotherapy: Drugs, such as dinutuximab, may increase the overall price. 
  • Diagnostic Tests & Imaging: More expensive tests can include MRI, PET-CT and bone marrow biopsy.

Duration and Complexity of Treatment

  • The treatment of high-risk neuroblastoma usually takes 12-18 months or more with several hospitalizations, ICU, and follow-up imaging. Long-term care and complicated treatment needs lead to increase in cost. 

Hospital & Location

  • Private Hospitals: Hospitals such as Medanta, Artemis and Max Saket in metropolitan cities would be more expensive because of superior infrastructure and special care.

Doctor’s Expertise & Team

  • Multidisciplinary teams and experienced pediatric oncologists have the ability to work on the outcomes of treatment. Their services may be more costly but they have the potential of saving the recurrent surgeries and decreasing the complications and hence cost are saved in general. 

Supportive & Ancillary Care

  • The supportive care costs, such as ICU hospitalization, infections, nutrition, physiotherapy, and psychological assistance, may have a great influence on the total cost of treatment. 

Patient Factors

  • Age & Weight: Affect drug dosage and transplant needs.
  • Response to Therapy: Patients who receive salvage therapy or intend to receive more cycles might have increased costs.
  • Comorbidities & Complications: Alternative conditions such as infections or relapse can cause the expenses.

Top oncologists for neuroblastoma in India

Pediatric neuroblastoma treatment in India

The treatment of neuroblastoma in children is based on a number of factors age, tumor stage, genetic characteristic (such as to MYCN amplification), and spread of the disease. Patients are categorized in the low-, intermediate-, or high-risk groups by doctors to customize treatment.

Treatment by Risk Category:

Low-Risk Neuroblastoma

Treatment:

  • Tumor removal is usually sufficiently done through surgery.
  • In some cases, observation is done when the tumor can spontaneously regress.

Outcome:

  • Good prognosis (more than 95 percent survival).

Intermediate-Risk Neuroblastoma

Treatment:

  • Combination chemotherapy (to destroy tumor)
  • Surgery (following reduction of tumor size)
  • Infrequent low dose radiation therapy (where residual disease still occurs)

Outcome:

  • Good prognosis (70–90% survival).

High-Risk Neuroblastoma

The therapy is vigorous and multifaceted:

Induction Chemotherapy

  • A number of cycles (5-8) of intense chemotherapy medications in order to reduce the tumor.
  • Typical medications Cisplatin, Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin, Vincristine, Etoposide, Topotecan.

Surgery

  • To excise the maximum amount of primary tumor safely.

High-Dose Chemotherapy and Stem Cell Transplant

  • Prior to treatment, the autologous stem cells (of the child) are harvested.
  • There is infusion of stem cells after high dose chemotherapy in order to replace bone marrow.

Radiation Therapy

  • Used on a tumor area, or metastases to destroy intact cancer cells.

Immunotherapy

  • Anti GD2 monoclonal antibodies (such as Dinutuximab beta) attack neuroblastoma cells.
  • Frequently used together with immune boosters (GM-CSF, IL-2).

Maintenance Therapy

  • Isotretinoin (13-cis-retinoic acid) to prevent recurrence by differentiating the remaining cancer cells.

Outcome:

  • Prognosis: 40 -60% however, new therapies are enhancing the survival.

Premier and Intensive Therapies

MIBG Therapy:

  • Directly uses radioactive iodine (I-131 MIBG) which is a targeted therapy which attacks neuroblastoma cells.
  • Useful in the case of resistance or relapses.    

CAR-T Cell Therapy:

  • In the case of relapsed neuroblastoma research - the genetically engineered T-cells attack the cancer cells.

Targeted Molecular Drugs:

  • Agents such as ALK (crizotinib, lorlatinib) inhibitors applied in tumours that have ALK mutations.

Supportive Care

  • Pain treatment and dietary assistance.
  • Chemotherapy of blood transfusion or antibiotics.
  • Child and family psychological support.

Neuroblastoma in India with GetWellGo

GetWellGo is regarded as a leading supplier of healthcare services. We help our foreign clients choose the best treatment locations that suit their needs both financially and medically.

We offer:

  • Complete transparency
  • Fair costs.
  • 24 hour availability.
  • Medical E-visas
  • Online consultation from recognized Indian experts.
  • Assistance in selecting India's top hospitals for Neuroblastoma treatment.
  • Expert neurosurgeon/neuro-oncologist with a strong track record of success
  • Assistance during and after the course of treatment.
  • Language Support
  • Travel and Accommodation Services
  • Case manager assigned to every patient to provide seamless support in and out of the hospital like appointment booking
  • Local SIM Cards
  • Currency Exchange
  • Arranging Patient’s local food
     

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