More children survive cancer – research is paving the way for a transformation in paediatric cancer care

Every day in Sweden, a child is diagnosed with cancer, and it is the leading cause of disease-related death among children aged 1–14. New figures from the Swedish Childhood Cancer Registry show that the proportion of children surviving five years after diagnosis has increased to 88 per cent. This positive development reflects decades of research and progress in care, placing Swedish paediatric oncology at the forefront internationally.

– More children survive cancer today, and that is incredibly uplifting. At the same time, access to novel, more effective therapies and treatment combinations varies between diagnoses. We want to see progress across all childhood cancer diagnoses – so that more children survive, and with less severe long-term complications, says Kim Ramme, Director of Research at the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund.

Survival increased rapidly during the 1970s and 1980s thanks to the successful introduction of chemotherapy. New treatment combinations and better supportive care continued to drive progress, but the pace of improvement has slowed, with five-year survival around 85 per cent over the past decade. In the most recent update – covering children diagnosed between 2016 and 2020 – survival increased to 88 per cent.

– Childhood cancer comprises many rare diagnoses, so we must be cautious when interpreting the statistics. Nevertheless, the increase we now observe can in part be attributed to increased survival among children with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and the most severe form of neuroblastoma. Both are diagnoses where advances in diagnostics and treatment have contributed to better outcomes, says Kim Ramme.

Precision diagnostics and new treatments behind the improvement

Survival in neuroblastoma has increased from 73 to 79 per cent since the previous five-year reporting period. One reason is the earlier introduction of genetic testing at diagnosis to identify children with aggressive forms of neuroblastoma. This is particularly relevant for children with changes in the ALK gene, who can now be matched to treatment with ALK inhibitors – a type of targeted therapy. Another important development is the use of anti-GD2 antibodies, a form of immunotherapy that helps the body to detect and destroy neuroblastoma cells.

– More children are now being cured through intensive treatment, and others experience fewer side effects when we can avoid giving unnecessary chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Several new treatment studies, where we are testing new combinations of therapies, have also started since 2019, says Per Kogner, paediatric oncologist and researcher at Karolinska Institutet.

From microscopy to flow cytometry for better precision

AML is another diagnosis where five-year survival has clearly increased, from 78 to 84 per cent. Thanks to a new treatment protocol, together with updated routines and analytical methods, clinicians can now measure treatment response with much greater accuracy. This makes it possible to better predict which children are at risk of relapse and to intervene earlier.

– Improved supportive care has allowed us to intensify AML treatment – we have been able to start with a higher dose of chemotherapy than before. By monitoring how children respond, we can then use flow cytometry to predict early on who is likely to relapse. If that is the case, we can move directly to a curative stem cell transplant, says Jonas Abrahamsson, senior consultant and paediatric oncologist at Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital in Gothenburg, adding:

– It is noteworthy that the improvements now visible in the AML statistics have been achieved entirely without targeted treatments. If we can begin to use molecularly guided treatments on a broader scale, there is real hope of increasing survival even further.

Progress needs to accelerate

Swedish paediatric cancer care performs well internationally in terms of survival, but when it comes to access to novel treatments, far fewer medicines are available for children than for adults. Although new cancer medicines and combination therapies that can cure or prolong life are being approved, children do not yet benefit from these developments to the same extent as in adult oncology.

Kim Ramme emphasises that while the new statistics show the trend is moving in the right direction, progress remains too slow, and several diagnoses still lack effective treatment options.

– Brain tumours are particularly challenging when located in areas where neither surgery nor radiotherapy is possible, but challenges exist across all childhood cancer diagnoses. Sweden has the potential to become a leading nation – but that requires continued investment in precision medicine and immune therapies, together with better access and more treatments specifically approved for children. Only then can we change the future for children with cancer: both by curing more children and by reducing the complications caused by today’s tough treatments.

About the statistics

Survival in childhood cancer is measured as five-year survival – the proportion of children who are alive five years after diagnosis. In the most recent update, released in February 2026, the results show continued positive development in Sweden. Five-year survival increased to 88 per cent for the 2016–2020 diagnosis period, compared with around 85 per cent during the previous decade. The figures apply to children under 15 years of age.

Source: Swedish Childhood Cancer Registry.