Children's Hospital Cancer Study Finds Adolescents and Young Adults Don't Get Same...

Children's Hospital Cancer Study Finds Adolescents and Young Adults Don't Get
Same Access to Cutting-Edge Treatment as Younger Patients

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The overall survival rate from cancer
now is lower in older adolescents and young adults with cancer than in younger
children, in part because of a lack of access to clinical trials nationally
for the older age group, according to a study by pediatric oncologists at
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC.
Nationally, cure rates in children younger than 15 with cancer have
improved dramatically over the last 30 years, increasing from 60 percent to
approximately 85 percent at five years from the time of diagnosis. In
contrast, similar improvements in survival rates have not been seen in
adolescents and young adults ages 15-22, with cure rates remaining steady at
approximately 70 percent throughout the same time period.
This can be attributed to the fact that adolescents and young adults don't
have the same access to cutting-edge cancer treatments provided though
clinical trials, according to the study led by Peter Shaw, MD, a pediatric
hematologist/oncologist at Children's Hospital and the director of the
hospital's Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Oncology Program.
The study is published in the December issue of the Journal of Pediatric
Hematology/Oncology.
"Research has shown that patients who are enrolled in clinical trials
offering the most advanced cancer treatments do better than patients who
receive conventional treatment," Dr. Shaw said. "Adolescents and young adults
with cancer are less likely than younger children to be enrolled in clinical
trials for two important reasons: the first factor is that AYA patients are
frequently treated by adult oncologists at hospitals that aren't participating
in clinical trials designed for cancers occurring in the pediatric and
adolescent age groups. Our study demonstrated the second reason, which is
that nationally, there are many more clinical trials available for the types
of malignancies that most often occur in the younger patients
Drs. Shaw and study co-author A. Kim Ritchey, MD, chief of the Division of
Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at Children's and vice chair of Clinical Affairs
in the Department of Pediatrics, studied 640 new oncology patients treated at
Children's between July 1, 2001, and June 30, 2006. The patients ranged in
age from birth to 22 years old. The study found that:

-- 38 percent of patients younger than 15 were enrolled in a clinical
trial.
-- 27 percent of AYA patients were enrolled in a clinical trial.
-- 41 percent of patients younger than 15 were not treated on a clinical
trial because one was not available.
-- 57 percent of AYA patients were not treated on a clinical trial because
one was not available.

"These findings underscore the need for AYA patients to be treated at
centers such as children's hospitals that are involved in national
cooperatives offering clinical trials of new treatments for pediatric and
adolescent cancers," Dr. Ritchey said. "There also is a need for more
national trials to be opened for AYA patients and the types of malignancies
most common to them."
The national Children's Oncology Group -- of which Children's is a
member -- has an AYA subcommittee on which Dr. Shaw serves that currently is
evaluating the types of cancers affecting AYA patients and ways to increase
clinical trials available to these patients, according to Drs. Shaw and
Ritchey.
One strategy for ensuring that AYA patients are treated by oncologists who
are most up-to-date on clinical trials and cutting-edge treatment programs is
for pediatric oncology divisions to establish AYA oncology programs in
cooperation with adult oncology counterparts.
In 2006, Children's partnered with colleagues from the University of
Pittsburgh Cancer Institute to establish an unparalleled AYA Oncology Program.
It combines the latest and most effective treatment options with a
comprehensive family-centered approach to care that addresses the physical,
psychological and emotional needs of adolescents and young adults diagnosed
with cancer.
For more information on Children's AYA Oncology Program, visit
http://www.chp.edu/aya.
SOURCE Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

Marc Lukasiak, +1-412-692-7919 or +1-412-692-5016, Marc.Lukasiak@chp.edu, or
Melanie Finnigan, +1-412-692-5502 or +1-412-692-5016,
Melanie.Finnigan@chp.edu, both of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC