European journal of cancer : official journal for European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) [and] European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
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Chemoprevention is an innovative area of cancer research that focuses on the development of pharmacological, biological, and nutritional interventions to prevent, reverse, or delay carcinogenesis. Over the past two decades the Division of Cancer Prevention of the US National Cancer Institute has organized a research and development program to provide resources and infrastructure to the research community for the clinical evaluation of potential cancer preventive agents. ⋯ In this review, examples of agents currently in development, preclinical testing models, and phase 1 and 2 clinical studies are described. Continued commitment to cancer prevention will significantly reduce the economic and medical burden of cancer.
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Multicenter Study
A multicentre epidemiological study on sunbed use and cutaneous melanoma in Europe.
A large European case-control study investigated the association between sunbed use and cutaneous melanoma in an adult population aged between 18 and 49 years. Between 1999 and 2001 sun and sunbed exposure was recorded in 597 newly diagnosed melanoma cases and 622 controls in Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. Fifty three percent of cases and 57% of controls ever used sunbeds. ⋯ Host factors such as numbers of naevi and skin type were the strongest risk indicators for melanoma. Public health campaigns have improved knowledge regarding risk of UV-radiation for skin cancers and this may have led to recall and selection biases in both cases and controls in this study. Sunbed exposure has become increasingly prevalent over the last 20 years, especially in Northern Europe but the full impact of this exposure on skin cancers may not become apparent for many years.
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Little is known about patients' satisfaction with care in oncology hospitals across cultural contexts. Within the EORTC, we developed a 32-item satisfaction with care questionnaire to measure patients' appraisal of hospital doctors and nurses, as well as aspects of care organisation and services. This study assessed the psychometric characteristics of the questionnaire, the EORTC IN-PATSAT32, in a large, international sample of patients with cancer. ⋯ The scales of the IN-PATSAT32 were able to discriminate clearly between patients with differing care expectations and differing intentions to recommend their hospital to others. This study supports the acceptability to patients, and the psychometric robustness of the EORTC IN-PATSAT32 questionnaire. Further studies are needed to assess the responsiveness of the questionnaire to changes in the structure and process of care over time.