EUROPEAN ONCOLOGY & HAEMATOLOGY – VOLUME 8 ISSUE 2 – SUMMER 2012

This edition of European Oncology & Haematology is notable for the breadth of information presented. Topics range from a paper by Gianni Bisogno and colleagues on very rare tumours in paediatric patients, their experience in gathering a database and the need for international collaboration, to two papers involving the older cancer population. Maria José Molina-Garrido […]

Radiation and medical oncology require unique and specialised software solutions to allow the effective delivery of therapeutic doses of radiation and administer chemotherapy while at the same time ensuring patient safety. These solutions must be able to support the hospital’s strategic information management goals, interact with various information technology and treatment systems, and provide a […]

Understanding frailty has become the focus of numerous investigations but, for the moment, there is no universally accepted definition. The concept of frailty has been developing over the past two decades. From the first article that referred to this term, published in 1953,1 to the first article that referred to ‘frailty in the elderly’, published […]

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is an acute prothrombotic disorder resulting from a deficiency of the von Willebrand factor cleavage protease ADAMTS13.1 The enzyme ADAMTS13 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type 1 repeats) cleaves the peptide bond between Tyr-842 and Met-843 of the mature subunit of von Willebrand factor (VWF) and prevents the interactions of […]

Carcinoma of the uterine cervix is the second most common form of cancer in women worldwide. In the Czech Republic, it has an incidence of 19/100 000 women and a mortality rate of 7/100,000 women.1 There are two main types of cervical cancer, squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, as well as a variety of much […]

The challenge of patient education traditionally is a responsibility of nurses. The nursing process of assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating is never more appropriate than when teaching patients and families about cancer treatments. In the past, as patients prepared for traditional IV (intravenous) treatment, nurses had a ‘captured audience’ to teach and the opportunity to […]

In 1971, Folkman formulated the hypothesis that tumour growth and metastasis are angiogenesis-dependent events. 1 Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a key role in angiogenesis. VEGF levels have been demonstrated to be elevated in choroidal melanoma.2,3 However, the use of anti-angiogenic agents such as bevacizumab – a recombinant humanised anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody – has […]

Oesophageal adenocarcinoma and oesophagogastric junction (OGJ) cancer have shown an increasing incidence over the past three decades in many European countries and other regions of the world with a Western lifestyle, indicating strong environmental influences on pathogenesis. Oesophageal adenocarcinoma and OGJ cancer are among the most common cancers in Europe and other parts of the […]

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynaecological cancer. In the US, approximately 21,880 new cases were identified and 13,850 women died of the disease in 2010.1 In the European Union, the number of newly diagnosed cases was 42,700 in 2004 and the mortality rate is 12 per 100,000 women per year.2 The current treatment for […]

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is a genetically heterogeneous group of leukaemias that result from clonal transformation of haematopoietic precursors through the acquisition of chromosomal rearrangements and multiple gene mutations. In the absence of treatment, AML progresses rapidly, resulting in bone marrow failure, anaemia, fatal infection, bleeding and organ infiltration. The incidence of AML increases with […]

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a neoplastic plasma cell disorder characterised by clonal proliferation of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow microenvironment, monoclonal protein in the blood or urine and associated organ dysfunction.1 MM accounts for 13 % of all haematological malignancies. According to the European Network of Cancer Registries, it affects approximately 21,500 people […]

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most commonly occurring form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), accounting for approximately one-third of adult lymphomas. There was an unprecedented rise in NHL incidence (3–4 % per year) from the 1970s to the mid-1990s, comparable only to the rise in skin cancers.1 It is estimated that there will be […]

‘Haemovigilance’ is defined by the International Haemovigilance Network (IHN) as ‘a set of surveillance procedures covering the whole transfusion chain, from the collection of blood and its components to the follow-up of recipients, intended to collect and assess information on unexpected or undesirable effects resulting from the therapeutic use of labile blood products and to […]

Malignant tumours are relatively uncommon in children, especially considering the incidence of cancer in adults. The difficulty of performing meaningful studies due to the limited numbers of patients treated at each paediatric oncology centre has encouraged oncologists to embark on national and international collaboration schemes in order to perform significant research. The positive results achieved […]