How rare are the rare oncological diseases?

The technological revolution and the understanding of the molecular genetics, together with the pharmacological industry led to an improvement in the management of many diseases in medicine. In the recent decades, many fatal in the past cancers were cured or turned into chronic diseases. However, this is not always the case in rare oncological diseases. Despite the discrepancy in the different definitions of rare oncological diseases, epidemiological data show that, taken together, the estimated annual incidence of all rare cancers is more than 20% of all cancer diagnoses.The analysis of rare cancer burden is a key to their better diagnosis, treatment. It is also known that their registration is suboptimal, particularly in the countries of Eastern Europe. The leading problems in oncology are related to the diagnosis and detection of tumors, unlike other rare non-oncological diseases, and this worsens many clinical parameters. It is already known that survival and many clinical outcomes in treatment and follow-up are improved in specialized centers, which is expert management of these patients in specialized centers is highly recommended. A conceptual model for a functioning specialised center has already been elaborated. Read the full article here.