“The best treatment for cancer is to detect it at its earliest stage.”

Foundation for Excellence and Quality in Oncology (ECO) was founded in 2009 with the aim of guaranteeing high level of oncological care for patients with cancer a unification of the efforts of leading specialists in the field of oncology. It has been headed by Aragonese physician and researcher Jesús García-FoncillasHead of the Oncology Department at the Jiménez Díaz Foundation University Hospital and Professor of Oncology at the Autonomous University of Madrid.We strive to improve the well-being of patients by enhancing their quality of life. but also to work to create conditions in which professionals from any discipline working with cancer patients can improve their care in the most appropriate way,” the expert describes.

In this sense, he believes that Aragon operates at the ‘highest level’“not only in the health care of these patients, but also in oncological research, in this area, both the Community and all of Spain already occupy a privileged position in clinical research.”The quality of cancer care in Aragon is very high, as evidenced by the accreditation of hospitals such as Miguel Servet to the highest standards of the American Cancer Society.With Dr. Antonio Anton on the head,” he notes.

Delays in access to new cancer treatments

On the contrary, this foundation, which brings together 87 heads of medical oncology services from various Spanish hospitals, points out the main problems facing this area of ​​health care and its patients. Among them, Dr. García-Foncillas cites detain What’s going on at the state level? in the implementation of therapeutic innovationsonce the European Medicines Agency has approved a particular drug for a specific indication.

According to the latest WAIT (Waiting for Access to Innovative Therapies) report, the average delay for inclusion of a drug in Spain now reaches 22 months from the date of European authorization. “This period of 661 days is longer than the one mentioned in the previous report, which was 629 days. Other countries have shorter time to include it in their portfolio than Spain. In December 2023 Spain has introduced a total of 103 new drugs into the national health system, 62% of which are approved in Europe.. The average delay time is a barrier for patients who may benefit from some of the new treatments to achieve the benefits that these drugs represent,” warns the oncologist, who suggests to the ministry limit time assessments so that they don’t take too much time and improve financial management these new drugs through the national health system.

“In Aragon, care for cancer patients is on par with the best international centers for the treatment of this disease”

Despite these delays, Dr. Jesús García-Foncillas notes that progress is also being seen in other areas that are worth congratulatingas well as the “excellent level” of clinical research that exists in Spain. “In our country this is done, in relation to other countries around us, a much larger number of clinical trials“This allows us to treat cancer patients in these research units and allows us to offer them options that would otherwise be very difficult to consider,” he says.

Despite this, the efforts of professionals who combine long days of clinical practice with research work are noteworthy. “Research is complex and there are no environments in place to facilitate the process”condemns this specialist. Bureaucratic and administrative barriers, as well as the fact that these research teams often “do not receive any recognition”, make it extremely difficult, in his opinion, to combine both professions. “But despite the excessive workload that these professionals bear, they continue to achieve results that are far superior to other countries around us, which is extremely commendable,” he adds.

Cancer in numbers

In 2023, tumors became the leading cause of death in Spain, overtaking diseases of the circulatory system and accounting for 26.6% of total deaths. “It is true that here An important role is played by the reduction in the number of deaths from cardiovascular diseases, which fell by 5.3%, but neverthelesscomparing with the previous year, the cancer continues to grow and now occupies first place,” this specialist emphasizes.

The incidence of cancer worldwide is expected to increase sharply in the coming decades, from 19 million cancer cases in 2020, according to GloboCAN, to more than 30 million by 2040.”This represents an increase of more than 56%. And if we look at cancer mortality worldwide, GloboCAN tells us that 9 million people died of cancer in 2020, and it is estimated that in 2040 this figure will exceed 16 million. A little more, and in 20 years the mortality rate will double,” warns García-Foncillas. According to this specialist, the reasons for all this remain. tobacco, alcohol and some infectious agents How human papilloma virusvirus hepatitis B, Hepatitis C wave Helicobacter tilori bacteriawhich is associated with the risk of developing stomach cancer. “Along with these reasons, today we must pay special attention to obesity and the various elements that lead to it, such as unhealthy dietary habits,” adds the oncologist.

As future challenges for achieving excellence and quality in the field of oncology, this expert advocates highlight the most common tumorsgiven the impact they have on society, but also in those tumors whose outcomes are still poor, such as brain tumors, some types of sarcoma or pancreas cancer“In these tumors, progress is much slower. We had very aggressive tumors, such as lung cancer, and we see that in just a few years we were able to change the poor prognosis. that he had and could talk about long-lived people. In the same spirit, we should work with other tumors, the prognosis of which is poor and where we do not have therapeutic options that would allow us to see longer survival,” he says.

For this, in his opinion, the most important point is the work on early diagnosis. “It is true that we have more and more drugs and therapeutic options with greater benefits, but it is also true that The best treatment for cancer is to detect it at its earliest stage. “so that we can solve this problem without metastasizing,” he adds.

In this sense, the oncologist from Zaragoza advocates for the continued training of all medical professionals working with cancer patients and for a multidisciplinary approach to each oncological process. “The fundamental aspect here is raising patient awareness, and this is crucial in two ways.: healthy habits – we must organize a special campaign to reduce obesity and the risks associated with it – and insist that people at risk be more proactive in early detection and screeningetc.,” he concludes.