In need of special care: adolescent and young adult patients with cancer

The adolescent and young adult (AYA) period is generally defined as the range between 15–39 years of age [1]. Awareness of the special medical needs of this age group has come into focus as represented by the exceptional increase of publications in the field, ranging from six in 1997 to 59 in 2007, and to 269 in 2017 (MEDLINE®, 07 February 2018). AYA patients suffer from a spectrum of cancers that are either similar to ‘paediatric’ cancers (such as acute lymphoblastic leukaemia [ALL], sarcoma, and brain tumours) or ‘adult’ tumours (such as breast cancer and melanoma) or are cancers quite unique to their age group (such as testicular cancer and bone tumours; [1]). In addition, the peak in incidence of certain cancers like Hodgkin lymphoma or germ cell tumours falls into the AYA period [2]. …