The Challenge of Access to Care for Adolescents with Cancer in Italy: National and Local Pediatric Oncology Programs. International Perspectives on AYAO, Part 2

This paper, summarizing the March 2012 presentation at the second international workshop of the Canadian Task Force on Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer, describes the situation in Italy concerning the inadequate access to optimal cancer services for adolescents, and the need to improve the quality of care for these patients while investing in more research on the diseases that afflict them. National actions to bridge the gap in care and implement specific programs tailored to these patients arose from the pediatric oncology community. These actions include creation of the national Committee on Adolescents of the Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica (AIEOP), founded with the mission of ensuring that Italian adolescents with cancer have prompt, adequate, and equitable access to the best care to optimize their treatment outcome and quality of life. Also developed was the Youth Project of the pediatric oncology unit at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Milan, which is currently dedicated to adolescents aged 15-19 years old and may eventually serve young adults up to the age of 25 that are affected by pediatric-type tumors