Improvement of European translational cancer research. Collaboration between comprehensive cancer centers

Even though the increasing incidence of cancer is mainly a consequence of a population with a longer life span, part of this augmentation is related to the increasing prevalence of patients living with a chronic cancer disease. To fight the problem, improved preventive strategies are mandatory in combination with an innovative health care provision that is driven by research. To overcome the weakness of translational research the OECI is proposing a practical approach as part of a strategy foreseen by the EUROCAN+PLUS feasibility study, which was launched by the EC in order to identify mechanisms for the coordination of cancer research in Europe

Pioneering Quality Assessment in European Cancer Centers: A Data Analysis of the Organization for European Cancer Institutes Accreditation and Designation Program

Purpose: In order to improve the quality of care in Cancer Centers (CC) and designate Comprehensive Cancer Centers (CCCs), the Organization for European Cancer Institutes (OECI) launched an Accreditation and Designation (A&D) program. The program facilitates the collection of defined data and the assessment of cancer center quality. This study analyzes the results of the first 10 European centers that entered the program. \ud \ud Methods: The assessment included 927 items divided across qualitative and quantitative questionnaires. Data collected during self-assessment and peer-review from the 10 first participating centers were combined in a database for comparative analysis using simple statistics. Quantitative and qualitative results were validated by auditors during the peer review visits. \ud \ud Results: Volumes of various functions and activities dedicated to care, research, and education varied widely among centers. There were no significant differences in resources for radiology, radiotherapy, pathologic diagnostic, and surgery. Differences were observed in the use of clinical pathways but not for the practices of holding multidisciplinary team meetings and conforming to guidelines. Regarding human resources, main differences were in the composition and number of supportive care and research staff. All 10 centers applied as CCCs; five obtained the label, and five were designated as CCs. \ud \ud Discussion: The OECI A&D program allows comparisons between centers with regard to management, research, care, education, and designation as CCs or CCCs. Through the peer review system, recommendations for improvements are given. Assessing the added value of the program, as well as research and patient treatment outcomes, is the next ste

Analysing the attributes of Comprehensive Cancer Centres and Cancer Centres across Europe to identify key hallmarks.

There is a persistent variation in cancer outcomes among and within European countries suggesting (among other causes) inequalities in access to or delivery of high-quality cancer care. European policy (EU Cancer Mission and Europe's Beating Cancer Plan) is currently moving towards a mission-oriented approach addressing these inequalities. In this study, we used the quantitative and qualitative data of the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes' Accreditation and Designation Programme, relating to 40 large European cancer centres, to describe their current compliance with quality standards, to identify the hallmarks common to all centres and to show the distinctive features of Comprehensive Cancer Centres. All Comprehensive Cancer Centres and Cancer Centres accredited by the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes show good compliance with quality standards related to care, multidisciplinarity and patient centredness. However, Comprehensive Cancer Centres on average showed significantly better scores on indicators related to the volume, quality and integration of translational research, such as high-impact publications, clinical trial activity (especially in phase I and phase IIa trials) and filing more patents as early indicators of innovation. However, irrespective of their size, centres show significant variability regarding effective governance when functioning as entities within larger hospitals

Practical aspects in managing daily interaction between the institute (general management priorities) and the medical department objectives and priorities

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Dose optimization of anthracyclines

Despite the fact that anthracyclines are one of the most commonly used and active classes of anticancer agents and that their pharmacokinetic behavior has been extensively studied, optimal anthracycline dosage regimens have not. yet been defined. Only a few pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (toxicity and response) relationships have been determined so far for anthracyclines and are here reviewed. The use of prolonged continuous infusion and fractionated schedules reduces doxorubicin cardiotoxicity but no sufficient data are available to date to demonstrate if those schedules result in equivalent antitumor efficacy to that achieved by IV bolus. Not enough data are available to conclude which is the best pharmacokinetic parameter to use in order to predict anthracycline-induced myelosuppression, other toxicities and/or clinical tumor response. Dosing adjustments of anthracyclines in the presence of liver dysfunction are still based on empirical guidelines instead of a more rational basis. Much work still remains to be done if we are to improve our knowledge of anthracyclines' pharmacodynamics. Limited sampling strategies will be of great help in the establishment of pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationships, which is essential to optimize the dosage regimen of anthracyclines in order to minimize their efficacy and/or minimize their toxicity in individual patients.SCOPUS: cp.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Study of excretion balance, metabolism and protein binding of 14C-radiolabelled Taxotere (RP56976, NSC628503) in cancer patients

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Clinical and pharmacokinetic (PK) phase I study of Docetaxel (TXT) combined to continuous infusion (CI) of 5-Fluoroucil (FU) in advanced cancer patients

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Daunorubicin plasma pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics

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Host status in patients with bone marrow transplantation: Controversies in Antibiotic Therapy. The Pharmacological Basis of Antibiotherapy

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