Abstract

Rare cancers represent approximately one fourth of all cancers. Despite being a heterogeneous group of diseases, they share similar problems including lack of expertise, issues in quality of care, discrepancies in outcome and limitations in research. Traditionally, centralization of rare cancer patients to dedicated reference centres has been recommended to ensure expertise, multidisciplinarity and access to innovation. However, centralization entails health migration, rationing of resources and a potential failure in routine care. By ensuring appropriate care to all patients regardless the point of access, networking seems the most appropriate answer to the problem of rare cancers. The launch of the Joint Action on Rare Cancers as well as the recent establishment of the European Reference Networks represent for the first time a concrete opportunity to make networking a reality and ultimately reduce disparities and improve outcome in these diseases.

Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.