Objective
The increasing use of radiation-associated diagnostic and therapeutic procedures have contributed to the improvements of early diagnosis and survival of paediatric patients. While benefits to the patient outweigh the radiation associated risk, the late effects of exposure of children are particularly important to understand in populations with increased survival.
The HARMONIC project builds on close collaboration between scientific and medical communities to contribute to improvements in the understanding of the health effects of medical ionising radiation exposure of paediatric patients, focusing on two distinct and complementary populations: (1) Paediatric patients undergoing modern radiotherapy (including proton therapy); (2) Paediatric patients undergoing interventional cardiology. Our project will provide additional insight into exposure to ionising radiation in childhood, exploring potential effects at very early ages, exposure to a wide range of doses from photons, protons and secondary neutrons radiation.
We aim at building European cohorts and registries for long term follow-up of paediatric patients treated with ionising radiation, both in cardiology and oncology settings, in the context of very rapid technology evolution. The study will use an integrated approach of conventional epidemiology, based on state-of-the art dosimetry, complemented by non-invasive imaging and molecular epidemiology to assess the following outcomes: endocrine dysfunctions, cardio and neurovascular diseases, societal impact and cancer. Complementary to this effort, we propose to investigate radiation-induced cellular responses in samples of blood and saliva, and the mechanisms involved in the processes that may lead to cancer and vascular diseases.
Ultimately, HARMONIC will develop tools and allow definition of guidelines on optimization techniques to guide treatments toward reduction of patient doses in paediatric cardiology and oncology.
Field of science
- /medical and health sciences/health sciences/epidemiology
- /medical and health sciences/clinical medicine/paediatrics
- /medical and health sciences/clinical medicine/angiology/vascular diseases
- /medical and health sciences/clinical medicine/cardiology/paediatric cardiology
- /medical and health sciences/clinical medicine/cancer
Programme(s)
Call for proposal
NFRP-2018
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
08036 Barcelona
Spain
Participants (23)
75654 Paris
45147 Essen
NE1 7RU Newcastle Upon Tyne
92260 Fontenay Aux Roses
1160 Bruxelles
10691 Stockholm
3000 Leuven
8200 Aarhus
8000 Aarhus C
75015 Paris 15
14076 Caen Cedex 5
94805 Villejuif
28359 Bremen
45122 Essen
00185 Roma
4362 Esch Sur Alzette
3584CS Utrecht
9713 GZ Groningen
0450 Oslo
3918 Porsgrunn
8006 Zurich
04050 Kyiv
14032 Caen Cedex 5