In the Czech Republic more than 73 000 tumour diseases are newly diagnosed every year and almost 27 000 deaths a year are tumour-related. The number of citizens living with a malignant tumour or having previously suffered with it has exceeded 418 000 in the year 2008.
The Czech Society for Oncology is initiating measures aimed at diminishing the incidence rate and raising the rate of success of treatment in the Czech Republic.
From the initiative of CSO, the Czech Republic has had, now for decades, the National Oncological Register (NOR). The collection of data for this register is a statutory obligation and at the same time an essential element in the planning of demand for oncological care and assessment of its results. Drawing data from this national population register, the CSO assures the functioning of further clinical registers following above all the most expensive anti-tumour treatment and its results. In the complex oncological centres, registers following the quality of treatment are also being created.
The CSO has also elaborated the National Oncological Programme of the Czech Republic, the mission of which is to lower the incidence of tumour diseases and the mortality rate, to improve quality of life of the oncologically ill and to rationalize costs on diagnostics and treatment of tumour diseases in the Czech Republic.
The Czech Society for Oncology has accredited as of 1 January 2006 a network of workplaces where patients are guaranteed complex treatment in the areas of diagnostics and treatment of tumour diseases. It is made up of medical establishments with the status of a complex oncological centre (COC).
The CSO also takes part in organizing education for oncologists. In the Czech Republic, would-be oncologists train for two years in internal medicine after which follows attestation training in either the field of radiotherapy or clinical oncology. The Czech oncologists can also take advantage of continuous life-long learning. Doctors from other fields (ORL, surgery, stomatology, etc.) can follow postgraduate courses in oncology but only within their original specialization.
Since 1976 the CSO organizes in cooperation with the Masaryk Oncology Institute of Brno regular Brno Oncology Days which serve as top class meeting of oncology professionals in the Czech Republic. The Southbohemian Oncology Days in Cesky Krumlov, Brno Days of Palliative Medicine, Prague Oncology Day and the Symposia on Supportive and Palliative treatment taking place in Ostrava are all regular activities of the oncology workplaces united under the auspices of CSO.
Since 1986, the CSO publishes its own journal Clinical Oncology.
The CSO created and regularly updates the website www.linkos.cz. The site is designed not only for the professional public but in a specialized section also for people diagnosed with a tumour, their families and friends. The site is regularly updated and fed with new information. It receives over 30 000 visitors every month and is therefore among the most visited websites with health related content in the Czech Republic. The "National Oncological Programme On-line" is on the other hand aimed more at professional public. At www.onconet.cz it presents the network of complex oncological centres, their equipment and projects under way.
The CSO actively supports all the screening programmes and activities leading to timely diagnosis of tumour diseases and has a detailed overview of the accessibility of individual oncological medicines in our country.
The Board of the CSO serves as consultative body on oncology for the Czech Medical Chamber and it elaborates the necessary standards of basic oncological treatment for the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic. The Chair of the Board, prof. MUDr. Jiří Vorlíček, CSc., is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic.
The CSO is also represented at the following international organizations:
- The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)
- The European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
- The European School of Oncology (ESO)
- World Federation of Surgical Oncology Societies (WFSOS)
