Special Report
Fifty Years of Progress Against Cancer – The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Celebrates its Achievements
John Bean,1 Denis Lacombe2 and Françoise Meunier3 1. Medical Science Writer; 2. Director; 3. Director General, European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer
Abstract
For 50 years, the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) has conducted and coordinated pan-European cancer clinical research and large-scale clinical trials in Europe, and many standard cancer treatments are a direct consequence of these trials. The EORTC was a pioneer in promoting multidisciplinary cancer research and is one of Europe’s leading players in facilitating the passage of experimental discoveries into novel treatments for patients with cancer. In this paper, the authors present a general overview of some of the achievements that have changed medical practice in cancer treatment with particular regard to new and improved chemotherapy and multi-modal treatment, the use of imaging and diagnostics, and the development of guidelines for optimising treatment and patient quality of life.
Keywords European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), cancer, oncology, clinical research, translational research
Disclosure: John Bean, Denis Lacombe and Françoise Meunier are employed by EORTC. Received: 23 December 2011 Accepted: 9 January 2012 Citation: European Oncology & Haematology, 2012;8(1):10–13 Correspondence: John Bean, Communications Office, EORTC European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer AISBL-IVZW, Avenue E Mounierlaan, 83/11, Brussels 1200, Belgium. E:
john.bean@
eortc.be
The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) was founded in 1962 as an international organisation under Belgian law by eminent European oncologists working in the main areas of cancer research. Originally named the Groupe Européen de Chimiothérapie Anticancéreuse (GECA), the organisation changed its name in 1968 and has been known as the EORTC ever since. Under its unifying structure, dedicated networks of researchers and clinicians have convened to conduct clinical and translational cancer research that has had a profound effect on cancer treatment not only in Europe, but worldwide. A large number of currently available standard cancer treatments are a direct consequence of this continued and collaborative effort. On these pages we present a general overview of some of its most significant achievements as it celebrates 50 years of progress against cancer.
Multimodal Cancer Treatment
The EORTC has been able to improve the standard of cancer treatment by testing more effective therapeutic strategies based on combinations of drugs and/or surgery and/or radiotherapy that are already in use and also through the development of new drugs and other innovative approaches.
Postoperative concurrent administration of high-dose cisplatin with radiotherapy was found to be more efficacious than radiotherapy alone in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer without causing undue numbers of late complications.1
In patients with
prostate cancer at high risk of developing metastases, immediate androgen suppression with a luteinizing hormone reducing hormone agonist given during external irradiation and for three years
10
afterwards improves 10-year disease-free survival and overall survival (OS) without increasing late cardiovascular toxicity.2
Completeness of surgical staging in patients with early-stage ovarian cancer was found to be associated with better outcomes, while a significant survival benefit has been shown for stage IIIC–IV ovarian cancer patients who undergo interval debulking surgery.3–6 Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by interval debulking surgery is a good alternative to primary debulking surgery in these patients.
A number of EORTC trials have helped to optimise local control of breast cancer. For example, the efficacy of breast conserving surgery followed by radiotherapy was shown to be equivalent to that of mastectomy as a loco-regional treatment for operable breast cancer.7,8 In patients with stage I/II breast cancer, an additional boost dose of radiation to the tumour bed following breast conserving surgery reduces the risk of local recurrence, especially in patients aged <50 years.9,10
The beneficial effect of radiotherapy in reducing the overall numbers of invasive and non-invasive recurrences in the ipsilateral breast after breast-conserving surgery has also been demonstrated.10
Another EORTC trial showed that adjuvant chemotherapy with the combination of procarbazine, lomustine and vincristine (PCV) after radiotherapy in malignant brain tumour patients, which was once considered standard treatment, was indeed toxic and brought insufficient benefit to the patient.11
Brain metastases are frequent in small cell lung cancer, and two EORTC trials have led the way in the use of prophylactic cranial
© TOUCH BRIEFINGS 2012
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