title: Effective childhood cancer treatment: the impact of large scale clinical trials in Germany and Austria.
abstract: In Germany and Austria, more than 90% of pediatric cancer patients are enrolled into nationwide disease-specific first-line clinical trials or interim registries. Essential components are a pediatric cancer registry and centralized reference laboratories, imaging review, and tumor board assistance. The five-year overall survival rate in countries where such infrastructures are established has improved from <20% before 1950 to >80% since 1995. Today, treatment intensity is tailored to the individual patient's risk to provide the highest chances of survival while minimizing deleterious late effects. Multicenter clinical trials are internationalized and serve as platforms for further improvements by novel drugs and biologicals.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University Children's Hospital Muenster, Muenster, Germany. rossig@uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rossig
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Juergens
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schrappe
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moericke
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Henze
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: von Stackelberg
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reinhardt
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Burkhardt
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Woessmann
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zimmermann
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gadner
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schellong
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mauz-Koerholz
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dirksen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bielack
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Berthold
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Graf
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rutkowski
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Calaminus
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kaatsch
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Creutzig
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000266:history / Q000379:methods; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic / Q000266:history / Q000379:methods; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D012042:Registries; D015996:Survival Rate
keywords: chemotherapy; childhood cancer; hematological malignancies; solid tumors; targeted therapies; treatment optimization studies