Oncology news

Beginning of the year 2009 is going to become a milestone in cervical cancer diagnosis and treatment in the Czech Republic, as the population-based screening programme will be officially launched on the 1st of January 2009.

Starting from January 2009, the preventive examination for colorectal cancer will be covered by the medical insurance. This good news has been confirmed by Prof Jiri Vorlicek, President of the Czech Society for Oncology.

Sixty per cent of Czech patients with colorectal cancer are regularly diagnosed so late that they only have a 12% chance of five-year survival. In contrast, 93% of breast cancer patients - who have been diagnosed at an early stage - have been cured completely. Data of the Czech Society for Oncology have confirmed that if people took more advantage of cancer screening and paid attention to cancer prevention, much more cancer cases could have been cured.

The oncologists in Brno want to attract more people to have preventive cancer checkups. The Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute will make an effort to promote this kind of checkup, supported by the General Health Insurance Office (VZP).

A call for action was presented at the 10th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer (WCGC), 25th June 2008, Barcelona, Spain.

April 2008 has seen the launch of the English version of www.mamo.cz, the official website of the project entitled Breast Screening Programme in the Czech Republic.