Elsevier

European Journal of Cancer

Volume 54, February 2016, Pages 64-68
European Journal of Cancer

Original Research
Transition guidelines: An important step in the future care for childhood cancer survivors. A comprehensive definition as groundwork

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejca.2015.10.007Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Adult childhood cancer survivors are not always engaged in long-term follow-up care.

  • Failure of transition will have potentially important medical consequences.

  • There is a need for a European transition guideline for childhood cancer survivors.

  • The first step is to define the concept of transition for childhood cancer survivors.

Abstract

Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines are essential to ensure that childhood cancer survivors at risk of chronic health conditions receive effective long-term follow-up care. However, adult survivors of childhood cancer are not always engaged in recommended health promotion and follow-up practices, as many centres do not have a formal transition programme that prepares survivors and their families for successful transfer from child-centred to adult-oriented healthcare. The need for a specific pan-European guideline for the transition of care for childhood cancer survivors has been recognised. The first step is to define the concept of transition of care for survivors of childhood cancer based on existing evidence.

Section snippets

The need for transition of care for childhood cancer survivors

In recent years, transition from child-centred to adult-oriented healthcare for childhood cancer survivors has become an increasingly important issue. Childhood cancer survivors are a growing population of individuals who are at high risk for premature morbidity and mortality due to their previous treatment and the cancer itself [1], [2], [3], [4]. In an effort to reduce morbidity and mortality, several national and international initiatives have started to target childhood cancer survivors for

The need for a specific transition of care guideline for childhood cancer survivors

Transition, independent of health status and age, takes place in our everyday lives, for example starting school, puberty, developing relationships, seeking employment. A major transition period is adolescence. It is a distinct phase of development characterised by a time of physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, cognitive and social changes and the establishment of self-identity. Decisions about lifestyle and vocation become important, and for many adolescents, relationships start to

The need for an appropriate definition of transition of care for childhood cancer survivors

The important first step in the development of transition of care guidelines is to define the concept of transition for childhood cancer survivors. Therefore, an international multidisciplinary working group was convened, representing all relevant disciplines, including paediatric oncologists, survivorship care providers, psychologists, guideline methodologists and epidemiologists. Systematic literature searches in MEDLINE (PubMed) covering the time period from 1990 were performed in November

Conclusions

Childhood cancer survivors have an increased risk of chronic health problems. Given their rapidly expanding population, it is important that efforts should focus on the transition of childhood cancer survivors from paediatric to adult LTFU care. To improve the quality of care and thereby the quality of life of this vulnerable patient population, PCSF is developing pan-European guidelines for the transition of childhood cancer survivors. Based on a systematic literature review we defined the

Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Micol Gianinazzi for identifying studies for this manuscript. This study is supported by the 7th Framework Programme of the EU, PanCareSurFup (257505).

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