A very important article on the Survivorship Passport has been recently published on CancerWorld, March-April 2014.
In the article'Passport to the future: Improving life for survivors of childhood cancer', Riccardo Haupt (Istituto Gianna Gaslini, Italy) and Sabine Karner (ICCCPO, Österreichische Kinder-Krebs-Hilfe, Austria) present the work being done in ENCCA with the help of PanCareSurFup as concerns the important initiative of the Survivorship Passport.
As 80% of young people with cancer are now surviving, it is essential that health systems are able to deal with this ever-impressing figure by informing all relevant stakeholders on possible risks or late effects of the cancer treatment received. Most survivors do not have precise information on the treatment they received as children, their GP doesn’t know enough about toxicity and long term consequences of treatment and they do not know where to go when a health problem arises. The current lack of information on many patients’ medical history becomes particularly critical as children become adults or as they move to another country. The Survivorship Passport is an outstanding initiative - developed through the partnership between professionals, survivors and IT experts - which can provide a solution to this problematic situation: this innovative tool provides relevant information on the medical history of patients who ended a cancer therapy, making survivors, GPs and healthcare professionals aware of the potential risks or late effects stemming from the previous disease and treatment received.More information: