Proton Beam Radiation Therapy in Treating Patients with Neuroblastoma or Ganglioneuroblastoma

Inclusion Criteria

• Participants must have histologically confirmed neuroblastoma or ganglioneuroblastoma or elevated urinary catecholamine metabolites; if no tumor tissue was obtained, urinary catecholamine metabolites are required
• Participants do not need to have measurable disease at the time of radiation
• Age ≥ 6 months and ≤ 25 years at the time of diagnosis because this study evaluates this disease entity in the pediatric population which may differ from the adult population
• Life expectancy of greater than 12 months
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =< 2 (Karnofsky >= 60%, Lansky >= 60%)
• Diagnostic imaging magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and/or computed tomography (CT) of the area to be treated within 8 weeks of any treatment; baseline bone marrow biopsy and bone scan (with 99m-Tc-diphosphonate or metaiodobenzylguanidine [MIBG] scan [131I-MIBG or 123I-MIBG]) from time of original diagnosis is required
• Women of child-bearing potential and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study treatment; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while on treatment in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately
• Ability of the patient or the patient’s legal guardian to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document
• Participants or their legal guardian must sign consent prior to the initiation of radiation therapy

Exclusion Criteria

• Patients will be ineligible if any prior therapeutic radiation therapy > 500 cGy has been delivered
• Patients will be ineligible if chemotherapy was completed >= 1 year from the planned start date of radiation therapy or if the patient is referred for radiation therapy after a relapse following a regimen with chemotherapy alone
• Individuals with a history of a different malignancy are ineligible except for the following circumstances; individuals with a history of other malignancies are eligible if they have been disease-free for at least 5 years and are deemed by the investigator to be at low risk for recurrence of that malignancy; individuals with the following cancers are eligible if diagnosed and treated within the past 5 years: cervical cancer in situ, and basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin
• Pregnant females are excluded; women of childbearing age/menstruating must confirm they are not sexually active or have a negative pregnancy test prior to initiation of radiation therapy