General information on paediatric oncology

Hier erhalten Sie Informationen über die Pädiatrische Onkologie und Hämatologie in Deutschland sowie über Pädiatrisch-Onkologische Fachgesellschaften in Deutschland, Europa und der Welt. Ebenso werden strukturelle Inhalte der Weiterbildung für Fachärzte (Schwerpunkt POH) vorgestellt sowie Formen der elektronischen Studiendokumentation.

Author:  Gesche Tallen, MD, PhD, Editor:  Dr. med. Gesche Tallen, Reviewer:  Prof. Dr. med. U. Creutzig, English Translation:  Dr. med. Gesche Tallen, Last modification: 2019/09/23 https://kinderkrebsinfo.de/doi/e79946

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Diversity and proportional composition of childhood cancers.
Abbreviations: CNS - central nervous system, LCH - Langerhans cell histiocytosis;
Source: German Childhood Cancer Registry (GCCR).

The most common paediatric malignancies in Western societies are leukaemias (34%), tumours of the central nervous system (20%) and lymphomas (13%). When suspecting cancer in a young patient, when taking care of the various problems of a childhood cancer survivor as a family physician or paediatrician, when being responsible as a caregiver during the intensive treatment on the oncology ward, or when, as a scientist, dealing with the current scientific and political challenges that paediatric oncology is facing in Europe today: Childhood cancer affects us all!

A fatal disease has become curable

Until the late 60ies, “Your child has cancer.” was like a death sentence, because the chance of cure was below 20% for most children and adolescents with cancer. To date, the 5-year-survival rates have increased to 75% - 80% for the majority of childhood cancer patients in industrialised nations.