Professor Eva Segelov |
Led by Monash
University’s Director of Oncology Professor Eva Segelov, the collaborative
research team published their results in the high impact journal JAMA
Oncology
this month.
Neuroendocrine
tumours (NETs) are a diverse, uncommon group of cancers with increasing
incidence and prevalence. An extremely
heterogeneous type of cancer, prognosis of patients with NETs ranges from
months in aggressive disease to decades for indolent disease.
Professor Segelov
said the study is the largest ever series—by a factor of 10—in reporting
outcomes after curative surgery for a rare cancer, Neuroendocrine Tumours
(NET), arising from the gut or pancreas,” Professor Segelov said.
“For the first time,
our study shows very different recurrence patterns for this kind of tumour.”
“On average NETs take
seven to ten years to recur, whereas most other cancers spread to another organ
like the liver or lungs within three to five years.”
The significant
clinical implications of this study are that these patients need a different
follow-up schedule to other cancer patients.
“Instead of having
frequent visits and scans in the first few years, these patients should have
more intense follow-up after five years—this is quite a paradigm shift,”
Professor Segelov said.
Professor Segelov
said future research should focus on the cost-effectiveness of surveillance and
its impact on patient outcomes.
This work was
undertaken using the very large population database of Ontario, Canada,
reporting more than 900 cases, and was performed within CommNETS, an international research collaboration co-founded by
Professor Segelov.
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