EUROPEAN ONCOLOGY & HAEMATOLOGY – VOLUME 8 ISSUE 1 – SPRING 2012

Welcome to the latest edition of European Oncology & Haematology. This issue covers several major and topical areas, with articles covering supportive care, breast cancer, lung cancer and colorectal cancer. For this issue, our special focus is on prostate cancer. In the haematological section we will be covering topics on haematological malignancies and paediatric oncology.

The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) was founded in 1962 as an international organisation under Belgian law by eminent European oncologists working in the main areas of cancer research. Originally named the Groupe Européen de Chimiothérapie Anticancéreuse (GECA), the organisation changed its name in 1968 and has been known as the […]

Febrile neutropenia (FN) is a serious and potentially fatal complication of cytotoxic cancer chemotherapy.1 In general, neutropenia severely impairs the immune system and places cancer patients at a high risk of developing major infections.2 Indeed, FN is a major contributor to chemotherapy-associated morbidity and mortality.3 Using data from a large US survey, a retrospective study […]

Breast carcinoma (BC) is one of the commonest cancers in the world, and definitely the most common malignant disease in women with more than one million newly diagnosed patients each year.

The incidence of lung cancer diagnosed in the elderly population is rising as a result of increasing life expectancy. Patients aged over 65 years at diagnosis represent half of the population of newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), while 30–40 % of cases are diagnosed in patients older than 70 years.1 As reported by […]

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the two most commonly diagnosed cancers, with approximately 1.2 million new cases each year and more than 600,000 annual deaths estimated to occur worldwide.1 In addition, roughly one-fifth of patients present with incurable disseminated disease.2 In the last decade, the development of new chemotherapeutic biological agents has significantly improved […]

In 2010, prostate cancer was the most commonly found malignant cancer in men, comprising 28 % of all new cancer cases.1 In the US, it is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, with annual mortality rates of approximately 30,000 deaths per year.1 Symptoms of the disease include: frequent and/or painful urination; difficulty […]

When there was only one drug (mitoxantrone) approved for use in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), chemotherapy played a marginal role in the treatment of these patients, since two large randomised studies1,2 and one Phase III study3 had demonstrated that while it provided significant control of symptoms, it failed to improve survival rates.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in men in the USA and the third most common cause of death in developed countries.1 For patients with metastatic prostate cancer, androgen deprivation therapy via medical or surgical castration is the standard treatment for improving symptoms and to prolong progression-free survival.2 After a […]

Today, health operators are mainly worried about two worldwide trends in human conditions: the remarkable increases in life expectancy and in obesity prevalence. These two aspects appear interconnected, and in the last decades a progressive gain in the body weight of older people has been observed. Considering 65 years of age as the threshold of […]

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is the most common adult leukaemia1 and predominantly affects older people, with a median age of onset of 72 years.2 As well as being frailer, elderly patients are more likely than younger patients to have co-morbid conditions. In the US National Institute on Aging/National Cancer Institute study, the mean number of […]

The symptoms of sickle cell disease (SCD) as well as underlying disease processes affect sleep across development, which has important implications for academic and behavioural functioning and overall health outcomes in children and adolescents with SCD. High frequencies of arousals and fragmented sleep related to sleep disorders that are more prevalent in SCD coupled with […]

Europe is undergoing considerable demographic change. It is estimated that people aged over 65 years will make up 28 % of Europe’s population in 2050.1 Many neoplasms develop and are diagnosed in seniors; for example, 65 % of males with prostate cancer are aged over 65 years while women aged 75–79 years have the highest […]