The lancet oncology
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The lancet oncology · Dec 2024
ReviewCancer care and outreach in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region: overcoming barriers and addressing challenges.
Cancer care in countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is hindered by many challenges, including inadequate infrastructure, a shortage of skilled health-care professionals, and economic constraints. These factors contribute to disparities in timely diagnosis and treatment, leading to poorer health outcomes. Health-care systems within the region vary considerably, ranging from free public health care in Sri Lanka to predominantly out-of-pocket expenses in Bangladesh, highlighting inequities in financial access and service delivery for patients within this region. ⋯ Despite progress in India and Sri Lanka, gaps in specialised training and holistic care for older patients remain. Addressing these disparities requires coordinated efforts, including improving health-care infrastructure, expanding insurance coverage, and fostering regional collaborations. Implementing comprehensive national cancer control programmes across SAARC nations, leveraging intercountry networks, and ensuring political commitment are essential to achieving equitable cancer care and advancing Sustainable Development Goals in the region.
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The lancet oncology · Dec 2024
Meta Analysis Comparative StudyComparison of first-line chemotherapy regimens in unresectable locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.
In advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), first-line chemotherapy is the standard of care. Due to the absence of head-to-head comparisons in clinical trials, we performed this systematic review and network meta-analysis to compare treatment options for PDAC in terms of their efficacy and toxicity. ⋯ None.
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The lancet oncology · Dec 2024
ReviewArtificial intelligence-aided data mining of medical records for cancer detection and screening.
The application of artificial intelligence methods to electronic patient records paves the way for large-scale analysis of multimodal data. Such population-wide data describing deep phenotypes composed of thousands of features are now being leveraged to create data-driven algorithms, which in turn has led to improved methods for early cancer detection and screening. Remaining challenges include establishment of infrastructures for prospective testing of such methods, ways to assess biases given the data, and gathering of sufficiently large and diverse datasets that reflect disease heterogeneities across populations. This Review provides an overview of artificial intelligence methods designed to detect cancer early, including key aspects of concern (eg, the problem of data drift-when the underlying health-care data change over time), ethical aspects, and discrepancies between access to cancer screening in high-income countries versus low-income and middle-income countries.
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The lancet oncology · Dec 2024
ReviewCancer education and training within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries.
The education and training of the oncological health-care workforce is vital for building effective health-care systems that deliver optimal care to patients with cancer. In the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations, there is a notable shortage of both physician and non-physician oncology professionals, including oncologists, medical physicists, radiotherapy technologists, and oncology nurses. This shortage is primarily caused by inadequate education and training programmes. ⋯ In the long term, the goals are to establish self-sufficient cancer care systems, promote regional collaboration, and strengthen research infrastructure. Achieving these objectives will require comprehensive approaches, increased financial resources, advanced cancer care infrastructure, and innovative educational models. Regional and international collaborations are essential to raise awareness of cancer as a major public health concern, advance prevention and early detection efforts, and bolster research initiatives.
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The lancet oncology · Dec 2024
ReviewCancer research in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries.
Cancer is a major global health threat, with 35 million new cases projected by 2050, predominantly in low-income and middle-income-countries. Within South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, a notable gap in cancer research investment and output compared with high-income countries highlights the need to strengthen research capacity. The rising cancer incidence across SAARC countries is not being matched by local research, particularly in clinical trials in molecular biology, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and cancer vaccines. ⋯ Key challenges include disparities in health-care access, cultural and economic barriers, and little funding and infrastructure. Strengthening cancer research in SAARC countries requires building collaborative networks, improving research facilities and training, focusing on local epidemiological studies, and developing affordable technologies and treatments. Effective policy and stakeholder engagement could greatly advance cancer care in the region.