QUARTET: a SIOP Europe project for quality and excellence in radiotherapy and imaging for children and adolescents with cancer

the QUARTET Project and the SIOPE Radiation Oncology Working Group

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Abstract

The European Society for Paediatric Oncology (SIOPE) Radiation Oncology Working Group presents the QUARTET Project: a centralised quality assurance programme designed to standardise care and improve the quality of radiotherapy and imaging for international clinical trials recruiting children and adolescents with cancer throughout Europe. QUARTET combines the paediatric radiation oncology expertise of SIOPE with the infrastructure and experience of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer to deliver radiotherapy quality assurance programmes for large, prospective, international clinical trials. QUARTET-affiliated trials include children and adolescents with brain tumours, neuroblastoma, sarcomas including rhabdomyosarcoma, and renal tumours including Wilms’ tumour. With nine prospective clinical trials and two retrospective studies within the active portfolio in March 2022, QUARTET will collect one of the largest repositories of paediatric radiotherapy and imaging data, support the clinical assessment of radiotherapy, and evaluate the role and benefit of radiotherapy quality assurance for this cohort of patients within the context of clinical trials.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)209-220
Number of pages12
JournalEuropean Journal of Cancer
Volume172
Early online date30 Jun 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
QUARTET and the work of Sarah Kelly and Dr Rachel Effeney as fellows at EORTC Headquarters are funded by Fondatioun Kriibskrank Kanner, Luxembourg. Dr Mark N. Gaze is supported by the National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre and by the Radiation Research Unit at the Cancer Research UK City of London Centre Award [C7893/A28990]. Dr Rudolf Schwarz is supported by Deutsche Kinderkrebsstiftung.

The authors would like to thank the wider QUARTET group and all supporting collaborators for their past and future contributions to this initiative; this includes all consenting patients or parents for their participation in clinical trials. The authors also thank the international trial sponsors who have integrated QUARTET: Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica, German Paediatric Oncology Group, Gustave Roussy, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria La Fe de Valencia, Universitätsklinikum des Saarlandes, UMC Utrecht, and the University of Birmingham; as well as the European Clinical Trial Groups supporting trial and research activities: SIOPE Brain Tumour Group, European Paediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma Study Group, SIOP Renal Tumour Study Group, SIOPE-Neuroblastoma, and the Euro Ewing Consortium. QUARTET and the work of Sarah Kelly and Rachel Effeney as fellows at EORTC Headquarters are funded thanks to the generosity of Fondatioun Kriibskrank Kanner, Luxembourg (SIOPE Grant).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors

Keywords

  • Clinical trial
  • Oncology
  • Paediatric
  • Quality assurance
  • Radiology
  • Radiotherapy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

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