Paediatric oncology in Hungary
Csongor Kiss 11 University of Debrecen Medical and Health Science Center, Dept. of Paediatrics, Hungary
Abstract
The Hungarian Childhood Leukemia Working Group, later as the Hungarian Paediatric Oncology Group (HPOG) maintains a systematic registry of the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of children with leukemia and solid tumors since 1971 and 1973, respectively. HPOG has developed a uniform, nation-wide paediatric oncology service in Hungary, a country with ten million inhabitants and limited economic resources characterized by a slowly but significantly growing annual cancer incidence of 132 per one million below the age of 15 years. The newly diagnosed 200-250 patients are being treated in 8 centers, 2 haematopoietic stem cell transplantation units and in one rehabilitation facility according to contemporary protocols, and are followed-up together with the increasing number of children who are cured from cancer. HPOG became an integral part of the international paediatric oncology community. As a result of the coordinated efforts of the members of HPOG, children with cancer in Hungary experience overall and event-free survival rates similar to that of other industrialized countries.
