This paper is only available as a PDF. To read, Please Download here.
While substantial gains have been made in the early diagnosis and successful treatment
of cancer, it continues to be the second most common cause of death in European Community
countries. It is imperative to develop new preventive and early detection strategies,
to evaluate and implement new and more effective treatments, and to disseminate the
most current information as rapidly and efficiently as possible to the largest number
of clinicians and patients. The most complete and reliable information about a new
diagnostic test or state-of-the-art treatment advance continues to come from the progression
of laboratory work to early clinical trials to appropriate large, multicentre clinical
trials. In order for this process to continue, it has become necessary for research
programmes throughout Europe to integrate scientific disciplines, pool available resources,
and establish adequate facilities to coordinate, oversee and facilitate high-quality
research efforts. An important force in this cooperative movement has been the establishment
of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). The aim
of the EORTC is to conduct, develop, coordinate, and stimulate research related to
all aspects of the experimental and clinical treatment of cancer throughout Europe.
Close cooperation with national research organisations has been created and EORTC
objectives are now achieved by multidisciplinary research groups including radiotherapists,
surgeons, oncologists, pathologists, immunologists, infectiologists, specialists in
quality-of-life assessment, health economists, and other categories of scientists.
Currently the EORTC investigators consist of a unique network involving more than
300 institutions working on a voluntary basis. Preclinical and early clinical trials
are coordinated through the EORTC New Drug Development Office (NDDO) based in Amsterdam,
The Netherlands while all other studies are coordinated by the EORTC Data Centre based
in Brussels, Belgium. Speciality units (Investigational Agents, Leukaemia, Quality
of Life, Health Economics, Meta-analysis, and Quality Assurance) also have been created
at the EORTC Headquarters to coordinate all specific aspects of large cancer clinical
trials and to increase the efficiency and quality of services. Several new EORTC groups
have been formed to address emerging needs and concerns. Additionally, an Education
Office has been set up as well as an EORTC Fellowship Programme to provide training
to a variety of professionals interested in cancer clinical research methodology,
in order to guarantee high quality clinical research in Europe and to promote dissemination
of the results, thereby improving quality of cancer care for all patients, not only
those treated in research-oriented institutions.
Key words
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to European Journal of CancerAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Declining cancer mortality in the United States.Cancer. 1996; 78: 2045-2048
- Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.Eur J Cancer. 1997; 33A: 8-9
Willemze R. New trends in the treatment of adult acute myeloid leukaemia. Eur J Cancer, this issue.
- Chemotherapy for nonmetastatic osteogenic sarcoma: the Memorial Sloan—Kettering experience.J Clin Oncol. 1992; 10: 5-15
Jurgens H. Recent advances in childhood cancer. Eur J Cancer, this issue.
- The international germ cell consensus classification—a prognostic factor based staging system for metastatic germ cell tumours.J Clin Oncol. 1997; 15: 594-603
- Cancer in the European Union.IARC Cancer Base. 1996;
- Entry and evaluation of elderly patients in European Organization for Research and Tretament of Cancer (EORTC) new-drug development studies.Cancer. 1995; 76: 333-338
- Meeting Highlight.in: Cancer Research in the European Community—Report from a meeting in Stockholm in 1995. Eur J Cancer. 32A. 1996: 1300-1302
EORTC (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer). Organizations, Activities and Current Research: 1996–1997, Brussels, EORTC, ISBN no. 2-930064-07-2.
- A Practical Guide to EORTC Studies. 2-930064-06-4 EORTC, MainzFebruary 1996
- The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer QLQ-C30: a quality of life instrument for use in international clinical trials in oncology.J Natl Cancer Inst. 1993; 85: 365-376
- Filing of EORTC SOP's at FDA will speed approval of drugs from Europe.Eur J Cancer. 1996; 32A: 389
- Melanoma and use of sunscreens: an EORTC case-control study in Germany, Belgium and France.Int J Cancer. 1995; 61: 749-755
- The need for boost doses in breast conserving therapy.in: 7th EORTC Breast Cancer Working Conference, Bordeaux, France10–13 September 1996
- Hormonal therapy prolongs survival in irradiated locally advanced breast cancer: a European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer randomized phase III trial.J Clin Oncol. 1997; 15: 207-215
- Profile of radiotherapy departments contributing to the cooperative group of radiotherapy of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer.Int J Radiat Oncol. 1996; 14: 953-960
- International quality control/quality assurance.Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1996; 34: 965-967
- Quality assurance of the EORTC radiotherapy trial 22863 for prostatic cancer: the dummy run.Radiother Oncol. 1995; 36: 229-234
- EORTC trials on hyperfractionation and accelerated radiotherapy: results and impact on standard practice in head and neck cancers.in: Balkan Congress of Oncology, Athens, Greece3–7 July 1996
- Larynx preservation in pyriform sinus cancer: preliminary results of a European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer phase III trial.J Natl Cancer Inst. 1996; 88: 890-899
- Another look at induction chemotherapy for organ preservation in patients with head and neck cancer.J Natl Cancer Inst. 1996; 88: 855-856
- Immediate hormonal therapy improves locoregional control and survival in patients with locally advanced prostate cancer.in: Results of a randomized phase III clinical trial of the EORTC Radiotherapy and Genito-Urinary Tract Cancer Cooperative Groups. Proceedings of ASCO. 1996: 238
- The effect of debulking surgery after induction chemotherapy on the prognosis in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer.N Engl J Med. 1995; 332: 629-634
- Clinical analysis of 670 cases in two trials of the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer Lymphoma Cooperative Group subtyped according to the revised European—American classification of lymphoid neoplasms: a comparison with the working formulation.Blood. 1996; 87: 4358-4367
- Efficacy of four different regimens in 64 mantle-cell lymphoma cases: clinicopathologic comparison with 498 other non-Hodgkin's lymphoma subtypes.J Clin Oncol. 1995; 13: 2819-2826
- The present state of the art in chemotherapy for soft tissue sarcomas in adults: the EORTC point of view.Crit Rev Oncol/Hemat. 1995; 20: 193-201
- J Urol. 1996; 156: 1934-1941
- Modulation of high-dose infusional 5-fluorouracil by low-dose methotrexate in patients with advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer: final results of a randomized EORTC trial.J Clin Oncol. 1996; 14: 2266-2273
- Final results of phase III clinical trial of adjuvant chemotherapy with the modified fluorouracil, doxorubicin and mitomycin regimen in resectable gastric cancer.J Clin Oncol. 1995; 13: 2757-2763
Article info
Identification
Copyright
© 1997 Published by Elsevier Inc.
