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Objective 7:
Causes of cancer
To understand the causes of paediatric
cancers and to address prevention
wherever possible.
“Why does my child have cancer?” is a crucial question for parents, which most of the time
receives no answer. Relatively few causative factors have been identified so far for childhood
cancers.
g
To run prospective clinical research to reduce the likelihood of long-term side effects in
patients who have a good prognosis malignancy.
Actions
1. Establish guidelines for follow-up that cover all possible late-occurring side effects of
current treatments;
2. Create and provide a ‘Survivorship Passport’ for each child and adolescent treated for
cancer that will include:
h
History and summary of the patient’s disease as well as treatments received;
h
Relevant follow-up measures, including precautionary measures to improve their
quality of life;
h
A database to store the patient’s clinical data and help monitoring and research;
3. Set up a relevant model of care to allow for a smooth transition to adult medicine (such as
‘long-term follow-up clinics’);
4. Increase research on late-occurring side effects (for example cardiac toxicity, secondary
tumours and infertility) and on quality of survival, including societal and psychological
aspects;
5. Anticipate long-term toxicities of innovative therapies, such as targeted therapies, that will
be introduced in standard treatments;
Two ongoing FP7 European projects, PanCareSurFup and PanCareLIFE, carry out research
on late-occurring side effects [17]. The pilot initiative of the ‘Survivorship Passport’ is being
developed thanks to the support of ENCCA and PanCareSurFup, and the organisation of care
including a virtual late-effects advisory centre, will be also addressed within the ExPO-r-NET
project.
THE SIOPE STRATEGIC PLAN
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Credit Czech Working Group for Paediatric Oncology, Czech Republic
“Survivors of childhood cancer want a normal life.”
(Sabine Karner, PPAC/CCI/PanCare, Austria)