A European project on incidence, treatment, and outcome of sarcoma

Abstract

BackgroundSarcomas are rare tumors (1-2% of all cancers) of mesenchymal origin that may develop in soft tissues and viscera. Since the International Classification of Disease (ICD) attributes visceral sarcomas (VS) to the organ of origin, the incidence of sarcoma is grossly underestimated. The rarity of the disease and the variety of histological types (more than 70) or locations account for the difficulty in acquiring sufficient personal experience. In view of the above the European Commission funded the project called Connective Tissues Cancers Network (CONTICANET), to improve the prognosis of sarcoma patients by increasing the level of standardization of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures through a multicentre collaboration.Methods/DesignTwo protocols of epidemiological researches are here presented. The first investigation aims to build the population-based incidence of sarcoma in a two-year period, using the new 2002 WHO classification and the "second opinion" given by an expert regional pathologist on the initial diagnosis by a local pathologist. A three to five year survival rate will also be determined. Pathology reports and clinical records will be the sources of information.The second study aims to compare the effects on survival or relapse-free period - allowing for histological subtypes, clinical stage, primary site, age and gender - when the disease was treated or not according to the clinical practice guidelines (CPGs).DiscussionWithin CONTICANET, each group was asked to design a particular study on a specific objective, the partners of the network being free to accept or not the proposed protocol. The first protocol was accepted by the other researchers, therefore the incidence of sarcoma will be assessed in three European regions, Rhone-Alpes and Aquitaine (France) and Veneto (Italy), where the geographic distribution of sarcoma will be compared after taking into account age and gender. The conformity of the clinical practice with the recommended guidelines will be investigated in a French (Rhone Alps) and Italian (Veneto) region since the CPGs were similar in both areas.

Incidence of soft tissue sarcoma and beyond

“…Our protocol for epidemiologic research was published previously 5. Briefly, patients were individuals of both sexes and any age who were residents in each European region and had a histologically proven, malignant sarcoma diagnosed as a first cancer in a 2‐year period, although distant metastasis were present at initial diagnosis.…”

Head and neck soft-tissue sarcoma in adults

“…Guidelines enhance knowledge and prognosis [52]. According to Mastrangelo et al, recurrence-free survival is better with treatment in a reference center adhering to clinical guidelines [53].…”

Transferability of health cost evaluation across locations in oncology: cluster and principal component analysis as an explorative tool

“…multicenter randomized trials focused on economic evaluations). However, this was not possible in this study because data were retrospectively collected and were not obtained as part of a clinical trial dedicated to this question [ 20 ].…”

“…Data were collected within the context of the European network of excellence “Connective Tissues Cancers Network” (CONTICANET, FP6 018806), which is funded by the European Commission. The full protocol of the project has been previously published [ 19 , 20 ].…”