Radiation (and Medical) Biosurveillance

Surveillance and management for therapy-related normal tissue damage in survivors of both childlhood and adult-onset cancer is necessary to maximize health-related quality of life. Progress by the (Children’s Oncology Group (COG) can be modeled or adapted for a adult malignancy, and is described in this report. Investigators from COG developed risk-based, exposure-related guidelines to provide recommendations for screening and management of late effects that may arise as a result of therapeutic exposures used during treatment for childhood, adolescent and young adult cancer. The guidelines are both evidences-based and grounded in the collective clinical experience of experts providing clinical care to thesw patient populations. A therapy-based design was choses to permit modular formatting of the guidelines by therapeutic exposure and based on the patient’s age presenting features, and treatment era. Multidisciplinary system-based (e.g., cardiovascular, neurocognitive, reproductive, etc.) task forces organized within the COG Late Effects Committee are responsible for monitoring the literature, evaluating guideline content, and providing recommendations for guideline revision as new information becomes available.