Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG) is proud to announce a new research project looking into which follow-up tests are beneficial to children who have finished treatment for leukaemia.
The project, titled ‘Do routine surveillance investigations improve survival after paediatric acute leukaemias? A systematic review and survey of current UK practice’ is led by Dr Jess Morgan at the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of York.
It will investigate whether regular tests that check for relapse after leukaemia treatment are helpful. Follow-up tests, such as blood and bone marrow tests, can be difficult for patients, both physically and mentally. Not only is there the pain of these tests and their associated medications, but it also brings a lot of anxiety for patients and their families.
The team will start by asking all of the UK childhood cancer specialist hospitals, known as principal treatment centres, how they monitor children after they have been treated for leukaemia, and then compare the differences, such as what tests are done and how often.
Then they will look at all of the research related to the tests, such as whether they find relapses earlier and improve survival, what costs to families and healthcare there are, and what the patients’ experiences are.
Dr Morgan said:
We hope that this project will provide more information about follow-up to help professionals understand the best ways to care for children after their treatment finishes.
If we find regular tests do improve survival, then we can help guide healthcare professionals about the best timings of tests and who might benefit from doing things differently.
If the project shows that some regular tests don’t improve survival for children and young people with leukaemia, this might mean that children have fewer needles, fewer anaesthetics for bone marrow tests, and less anxiety before test results.
This project complements a previous project, funded by CCLG’s 40th Anniversary Grant scheme, which investigated whether follow-up scans are helpful or harmful for children with solid tumours.
Dr Morgan said: “The team and I are really excited about this project as we think it is an important question to ask for children, young people and their families.
“Our team at the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination at the University of York have previously performed systematic reviews of follow-up care in brain tumours, and in the childhood solid tumours project funded by CCLG.
“This project will help further develop the skills of our researchers, which means they’ll be able to undertake even more great childhood cancer research in the future.”
CCLG Research Manager Dr Sarah Evans said:
It is fantastic to have funded Dr Morgan’s continued work into how follow-up tests affect children who have been treated for cancer.
As the team have worked with parents to develop this research proposal, we know it is an important research topic for families affected by childhood cancer.
Talking about the importance of supporting researchers’ development, she added: “We love to see researchers returning to CCLG and building on their previous work and we are proud to support and help to develop their careers.”