Descripción del proyecto
Unas mejores estrategias de monitorización del cáncer podrían reducir la necesidad de intervenciones quirúrgicas y mejorar los desenlaces
Los avances tecnológicos y un mayor conocimiento sobre los procesos de las enfermedades pueden ampliar las opciones en cuanto a tratamientos menos invasivos y destructivos. Por ejemplo, no hace mucho tiempo. la lobotomía se consideraba un tratamiento alternativo adecuado para enfermedades mentales graves que eran resistentes a otras terapias. El tratamiento del cáncer está entrando en una nueva era y existe un creciente consenso de que priorizar la extirpación quirúrgica de un tumor diagnosticado puede implicar riesgos que superan a los beneficios. La supervisión activa es ahora un plan terapéutico definido que implica realizar un estrecho seguimiento del estado del paciente para detectar signos de cambio sin necesidad de tratamiento. CAST planea aumentar nuestros conocimientos sobre el comportamiento del cáncer y las estrategias de monitorización con el fin último de reducir las cirugías innecesarias, a la vez que se mejoran los desenlaces y la calidad de vida de los pacientes.
Objetivo
When a patient is discovered to have cancer, one of the primary goals is to have the tumour removed by surgery. Although
this provides excellent oncological control, it is associated with morbidity and functional problems in cancer survivors. Recent
studies have shown that the immediacy to perform a resection does not always lead to improved clinical outcome.
Furthermore, cancer surgery can often lead to complications where the quality of life for the patient is compromised by toxic
side effects and /or damage to nerves, organs or healthy tissues. A number of recent clinical trials in the field of cancer
surgery have advocated the concept of watch and wait, watchful waiting, active monitoring or surveillance, which are terms
used to describe a monitoring strategy for cancer. The concept may be antithetical but the functional advantage of these
alternatives is clear even though there is some concern about the risk. Though the evidence is still weak, current studies
suggest that with adequate selection and follow-up, this oncological risk is small. A major consideration for clinicians is now
to maintain quality of life for all patients. Our objective in this proposal is to implement novel approaches so that cancer
surgery can be avoided, where we aim to (a) develop new monitoring technologies from industry so that the surveillance
window can be increased to allow for better treatment options over time and to avoid surgery, (b) develop new ‘watch and
wait’ strategies in order to study the behaviour of the cancer so that any risks to the patient can be minimised leading to a
better clinical outcome and (c) train a new generation of preclinical and clinical scientists to be able to implement this new
concept as standard of care and to maximise the benefits of an active monitoring policy.
Ámbito científico
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MSCA-ITN - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks (ITN)Coordinador
1066 CX Amsterdam
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