Teens and young adults the new frontier in cancer says US cancer ...( 't acquire adequate cover afterwards....)

One important factor was that the spectrum of cancers among adolescents and young adults is different from any other age.

"There is no discipline in medicine devoted to this group. Neither paediatric oncologists nor oncologists who are for adults are trained certainly not optimally for this set of diseases," said Professor Bleyer.

Even the diseases that seem the same often have biological differences. Adolescents have different forms of leukaemia than younger or older patients. Acute leukaemia, for example, changers dramatically after the age of 10-12 and breast cancer before the age of 30-40 is different than in older women.

But, the clinching factor for these cancer 'orphans' according to Professor Bleyer, is lack of participation in clinical trials. "If we are going to address the survival deficit it requires broad support to increase clinical trial participation among 15 to 29 year-olds which, in the US, is under 1% and drastically lower than the approximately 60% rate in younger patients and the 3-5% in older patients."

"Worldwide, we need a new discipline in adolescent and young adult oncology. This age group deserves trained care providers, specialised clinics and inpatient units, and probably most importantly, dedicated research strategies that are not available with either paediatric or adult care programmes.

"Until we devote resources special
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