gms | German Medical Science

With a population of 21 million inhabitants, Romania is the latest country joining the EU in the 1-st of January 2007. The aim of my report was to provide update data on paediatric oncology in Romania, needed for assessing the potential of international cooperation in this field. I addressed a questionnaire to all the heads of the paediatric oncology units. A review of the therapeutic results published by the Romanian authors was the source of survival evaluation. 657 new cases of cancer in children and adolescents 0-16 years have been diagnosed in 2006, resulting an incidence of 152 cases/million/year. Children with cancer are referred to 12 paediatric oncology units. Radiotherapy was accessible to all patients in 4 centers. In most cases (CNS tumors excepted), surgery was performed by general paediatric surgeons. Two haematopoietic stem cell transplantation units have recently opened. Five year survival in ALL increased from 22-24% to 50-62% in patients treated between 1980-1990 and 1990-2000 respectively. Improvement of national co-operation and quality control are sources of progress that have not been efficiently exploited yet. Establishment of a nationwide paediatric cancer registry could supply reliable data for clinical epidemiologic studies, improved resource planning and international comparisons.