Focus on the lungs
Cancer therapies can cause health problems later on in life, for example problems with the lungs. Initially, lung diseases are often not noticed because the lungs can compensate for restrictions for a long time. When the first symptoms appear, the disease is often already advanced. Special lung function tests can detect the first changes at an early stage. Lung function tests are harmless and pain-free examinations. Nowadays, different lung function tests are used, but they can detect lung problems to varying degrees.
The “SCCSS FollowUp Trial” evaluates lung function tests that are routinely carried out in clinical follow-up and investigates which cancer treatments are particularly harmful to the lungs in childhood and adolescence. In this way, the team working on the trial wants to find out which patients are more likely to develop lung diseases. This means that lung diseases could be detected at an early stage and possibly even prevented in the long term. In addition, the trial is looking at which lung function tests can best detect possible lung problems in former childhood cancer patients.
The “SCCSS FollowUp Trial” contributes to better care for former childhood cancer patients and thus to improving their quality of life in the long term. The trial is being financed by Swiss Cancer Research and Childhood Cancer Switzerland, coordinated at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) at the University of Bern, and carried out at the children's hospitals in Bern, Basel and Geneva.
If you would like to take part in the trial or find out more about it, please contact Masa Zarkovic (MD).