Research network on pediatric oncology and haematology

Cancer in children and young adults

In Germany each year about 2,000 children or young adults are confronted with the diagnosis that they have cancer. Through joint efforts to combat cancer in children and young adults, survival rates have been pushed up over the last 30 years from an average 15 to 75% but cancer in children continues to pose a great challenge: problems awaiting solution include clinical care and research, molecular biology and basic research and long-term effects. These are the three focuses which are being studied within the network´s 11 specific projects.

Intensified collaboration between experts and teaching hospitals linked through multicentric cooperation within the research network was initiated by the German Society of Pediatric Oncology and Haematology (Gesellschaft für Pädiatrische Onkologie und Hämatologie – GPOH) and is being supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

The network´s new findings are to be applied without delay in clinical practice for the benefit of patients: now that intensification of chemotherapy has led to extraordinary improvements, innovative approaches are being tested to achieve advances in treatment. Better knowledge of the (side) effects of drugs and findings on cancer etiology will enable to design treatments that meet the specific needs of each individual patient.

Clinical research is indispensable for successful treatment: more than 90% of the affected children receive state-of-the-art treatment within the framework of cooperative, multicentric trials in accordance with uniform standards and a quality assurance regime.

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