European Standard Clinical Practice (ESCP) advances in paediatric very rare tumors
Even though tumor diseases are generally rare in childhood, some malignancies such as leukemias, lymphomas, and CNS tumors occur comparatively frequently. Besides these, there is a very heterogeneous group of neoplasms that occur extremely rarely. Some of these tumors are typical for the paediatric age group, while others are very common tumors in adulthood, but only rarely develop in children and adolescents. These paediatric very rare tumors (VRT) are defined as “any solid malignancy or borderline tumor characterized by an annual incidence < 2/million children < 18 years old” according to the European Cooperative Study Group for Pediatric Rare Tumors (EXPeRT). Due to their rarity, it is almost impossible to conduct clinical trials for these tumour entities, making it difficult to establish evidence-based treatment recommendations.Therefore, the treatment of children and adolescents with VRT is often carried out on an individual basis.
To continue the process of establishing and updating internationally recognized recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of children and adolescents with VRT, the EXPeRT group continues to develop ESCP (European Standard Clinical Practices) in order to harmonize the care of these children. These ESCP are available on the EXPERT and the SIOP Europe websites (ESCP - European Standard Clinical Practice - European Cooperative Study Group for Pediatric Rare Tumors).
The following ESCP are already available: ESCP for NUT Carcinoma, Pleuropulmonary Blastoma, Salivary Gland Carcinoma, Adrenocortical Tumors, Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, Thymoma and Thymic Carcinoma in children and adolescent. This year, we have already added the Appendiceal Neuroendocrine Tumors one. Will arrive soon, in the next months, ESCP for Pediatric Melanoma, Pheochromocytoma/Paraganglioma, Olfactory Neuroblastoma, Pseudopapillar Pancreatic Tumor and Lung Carcinomas in children.
Events of interest:
· 6th SIOPE Annual Meeting in Budapest (Hungary), 12-16 May 2025
· EXPeRT Group Meeting in Ljubljana (Slovenia), 6-7 November 2025 – For more information on the meeting and the program, please consult the website