Panels address physician roles in managing ca survivors.(Gynecology)

ORLANDO, FLA. -- Primary care physicians and other clinicians from specialties outside of oncology can expect to find their respective roles spelled out in new guidelines under development for medical management of cancer survivors.

Among the proposals in the works is an individual "end-of-treatment summary" that would be drawn up for each patient when he or she completes treatment. This would describe the therapies delivered and enumerate the long-term responsibilities of oncologists and other physicians in monitoring the patient for late effects.

Patricia A. Ganz, M.D., discussed the guidelines at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). In an interview, she said a template is nearly complete and will be available in November when an Institute of Medicine panel is to issue its report on medical and social issues facing adult cancer survivors.

Dr. Ganz, director of cancer prevention and control research at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center of the University of California, Los Angeles, is cochair of a new ASCO Survivorship Task Force, along with the society's incoming president, Sandra J. Horning, M.D.

The task force will hold its first formal meeting this month, outgoing ASCO president David H. Johnson, M.D., said. He also said the society's health services committee is drafting clinical practice guidelines addressing late effects of treatment, secondary malignancies, and psychosocial effects.

The Children's Oncology Group (COG) has already created a Web site, www.survivorshipguidelines.org, where gynecologists, internists, family physicians, and other health care providers can find "Long-Term Follow-up Guidelines for Survivors of Childhood, Adolescent and Young Adult Cancers." Smita Bhatia, M.D., said COG ...