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- Weber, Damien C., et al.
(author)
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Profile of European proton and carbon ion therapy centers assessed by the EORTC facility questionnaire
- 2017
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In: Radiotherapy and Oncology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0167-8140 .- 1879-0887. ; 124:2, s. 185-189
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: We performed a survey using the modified EORTC Facility questionnaire (pFQ) to evaluate the human, technical and organizational resources of particle centers in Europe.Material and methods: The modified pFQ consisted of 235 questions distributed in 11 sections accessible on line on an EORTC server. Fifteen centers from 8 countries completed the pFQ between May 2015 and December 2015.Results: The average number of patients treated per year and per particle center was 221 (range, 40-557). The majority (66.7%) of centers had pencil beam or raster scanning capability. Four (27%) centers were dedicated to eye treatment only. An increase in the patients-health professional FTE ratio was observed for eye tumor only centers when compared to other centers. All centers treated routinely chordomas/-chondrosarcomas, brain tumors and sarcomas but rarely breast cancer. The majority of centers treated pediatric cases with particles. Only a minority of the queried institutions treated non-static targets.Conclusions: As the number of particle centers coming online will increase, the experience with this treatment modality will rise in Europe. Children can currently be treated in these facilities in a majority of cases. The majority of these centers provide state of the art particle beam therapy.
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| 2. |
- Wouters, Michel W., et al.
(author)
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ECCO essential requirements for quality cancer care: Melanoma
- 2018
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In: Critical reviews in oncology/hematology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1040-8428. ; 122, s. 164-178
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: ECCO essential requirements for quality cancer care (ERQCC) are explanations and descriptions of challenges, organisation and actions that are necessary to give high-quality care to patients who have a specific type of cancer. They are written by European experts representing all disciplines involved in cancer care. ERQCC papers give oncology teams, patients, policymakers and managers an overview of the elements needed in any healthcare system to provide high quality of care throughout the patient journey. References are made to clinical guidelines and other resources where appropriate, and the focus is on care in Europe. Melanoma: essential requirements for quality care: • Melanoma, the most-deadly skin cancer, is rising in incidence among fair-skinned people in Europe. Increasing complexity of care for advanced disease in clinical areas such as staging and new therapies requires attention to a number of challenges and inequalities in a diverse patient group.• Care for advanced melanoma must only be carried out in, or in collaboration with, specialist melanoma centres which have both a core multidisciplinary team and an extended team of allied professionals, and which are subject to quality and audit procedures. Access to such units is far from universal in all European countries.• It is essential that, to meet European aspirations for high-quality comprehensive cancer control, healthcare organisations implement the requirements in this paper, paying particular attention to multidisciplinarity and patient-centred pathways from diagnosis to treatment and follow-up, to improve survival and quality of life for patients.Conclusion: Taken together, the information presented in this paper provides a comprehensive description of the essential requirements for establishing a high-quality service for melanoma. The ERQCC expert group is aware that it is not possible to propose a ‘one size fits all’ system for all countries, but urges that access to multidisciplinary teams and specialised treatments is guaranteed to all patients with melanoma.
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