Every year, worldwide, nearly 400.000 children and adolescents between 0 and 19 years old are diagnosed with cancer. Childhood cancer is a disease considered a minority and very unknown, but devastating both for the children and young people who suffer from it and for their families and their social environment.

The most common types of childhood cancer are leukemias, brain tumors, lymphomas and solid tumors, such as neuroblastoma and Wilms tumors, but very few have specific treatments for children. In high-income countries, where the population generally has access to comprehensive services, more than 80% of children affected by cancer are cured, but in many low- and middle-income countries, the cure rate is between 15 and 45%. Patients who present with metastatic or relapsed disease show greatly reduced survival rates.

It must be taken into account that certain antitumor treatments are very aggressive for children: some have high toxicity, are not very specific and leave many sequelae. Furthermore, the results of cancer research in adults cannot be extrapolated to childhood cancer, since they are very different diseases. Developmental cancer (in children and adolescents) therefore requires specific research to increase the possibility of cure through more effective and less toxic treatments.

What keys differentiate cancer in adults from childhood cancer? Why my son? Why are so many fewer resources devoted to childhood cancer than to adult cancer? What is molecular testing and how can it help oncologists determine which type of cancer affects each child? How many specific treatments for childhood cancer are currently approved? What new research is being carried out to achieve higher cure rates? What new drugs are expected to become available in the coming years? Is healing forever? How is research on childhood cancer in Spain?

In 2022, the Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona (PCCB) will be launched, a new leading center in the research and treatment of childhood cancer. It will be the center with the greatest care capacity in all of Spain and one of the most important in Europe in its field.

Speakers:

• Dr. Jaume Mora, scientific director of the PCCB, Sant Joan de Déu Hospital in Barcelona.
• Dr. Ana Patino, professor of Genetics and researcher at the Laboratory of Advanced Therapies for Solid Tumors of the Department of Pediatrics of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra.

Moderator:

• Montse Baldomà, journalist.

Monday, January 24, 2021, at 19 p.m.
Debate in Spanish.