The REQUITE Project: Validating Predictive Models and Biomarkers of Radiotherapy Toxicity to Reduce Side-effects and Improve Quality of Life in Cancer Survivors

摘要

The worldwide number of cancer survivors within 5 years of diagnosis was estimated to be about 28.7 million in 2008 [1]. Many must cope with the long-term effects of treatment, which can affect health-related quality of life [2,3]. These issues need to be addressed in a systematic manner in order to enhance the participation of cancer survivors in society and reduce healthcare costs. Side-effects and quality of life in long-term survivors after radiotherapy are not well researched and the data are rarely collected in a systematic manner in routine follow-up. Also, studies investigating side-effects can be difficult to compare because of the use of different toxicity reporting systems and a lack of pretreatment data, which is important to ensure that side-effects are related to radiotherapy rather than other underlying health problems.