Posts by tag
patient-centred care
What the Scan Couldn’t Tell Me
The scan was stable. I remember feeling a quiet sense of satisfaction as I shared the news with my patient and his wife. After all, in oncology, stable disease is something worth celebrating. I had already moved mentally to the…
Time is of Essence
Europe has never had more powerful tools against cancer. But progress means little if patients cannot reach them in time. Cancer has never moved at the speed of bureaucracy. Today, science can identify molecular alterations that were once invisible. Biomarker…
Oncology Couch: The Shadows of another Dimension
What children with cancer may be teaching us about medicine, uncertainty, and what it means to be human There are conversations in oncology that begin with a question. And then there are conversations in which, somewhere along the way, the…
The Missing Link in Cancer Care: Can AI-supported patient navigation close the gap in LMICs?
For many people with cancer in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the greatest barrier is not that treatment is unavailable. It is that the path to treatment is fragmented, difficult to navigate, and easy to fall out of. A person…
Beyond Anxiety and Depression: A New Framework for Mental Health in Cancer Care
Emerging research suggests that understanding psychological wellbeing in people affected by cancer requires looking beyond traditional diagnostic categories. A cancer diagnosis is far more than a medical event. It can disrupt every aspect of a person's life, reshaping relationships, work,…
The Patient’s Voice May Be One of Oncology’s Best Prognostic Tools
Large meta-analysis suggests patient-reported outcomes complement traditional clinical assessment. Despite advances in imaging, molecular profiling, and biomarkers, accurately estimating how long a patient with cancer is likely to survive remains challenging. Now, a large analysis involving data from more than…
Oncology Couch: Questions, Answers, and the Space in Between
To patients and oncologists alike: Are there questions living inside you that you have not been asking out loud? Could it be that you do not even know what questions to ask? Are there answers you have arrived at privately…
Finding Her Voice: How One Little Girl’s Loss Became a Lifelong Lesson in Listening
When Martha Raymond, the Founder and CEO of the GI Cancers Alliance and the Raymond Foundation, was seven years old, she lost her father to colon cancer. Years later, her mother's illness would change the course of her own life.…
CancerWorld #118 (August 2026)
We often describe progress in oncology through the language of discovery. Scientific breakthroughs. Technological innovation. Deeper biological insight. These advances have transformed medicine, helping millions of people live longer and better than ever before. Yet alongside every scientific breakthrough, a…
Beyond Treatment: Why Psycho-Oncological Education Matters for Patients and Their Caregivers
"Cancer is part of a person's life, but it should never become their entire identity." That simple yet powerful observation from global cancer advocate Carmen Monge-Montero captures a growing recognition in oncology: treating cancer successfully requires more than surgery, chemotherapy,…