Introduction

Childhood cancers (or paediatric cancers) are classified among rare diseases as their incidence rates are orders of magnitude lower than cancer incidence rates in adults. Although paediatric cancers are rare, they are the second leading cause of death among children (after injuries). About 400 new cases of childhood cancer are diagnosed in the Czech Republic each year. In the Czech Republic, treatment of childhood cancer patients is concentrated in two specialised centres:

• Department of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology at the University Hospital in Motol (Prague)
• Department of Paediatric Oncology at the University Hospital Brno

Hospitals in Ostrava, Olomouc, Plzen, Hradec Kralove, Ceske Budejovice, and Usti nad Labem cooperate with the above-mentioned specialised centres. In accordance with the Council Recommendation of 8 June 2009 on an action in the field of rare diseases (2009/C 151/02), the centres of University Hospital in Motol and University Hospital Brno have established and maintained a database of diagnosed and treated childhood cancer patients.

Based on available data sources, this portal aims to improve the healthcare professionals’ awareness of childhood cancers and to promote their education in this area. The target groups involve paediatricians, non-specialised paediatric departments of health care facilities and professionals in both basic and applied research, as well as civic associations of patients and their family members.

The portal provides not only basic information (i.e. analyses and publications) about individual diagnostic groups of childhood cancers, but also interactive analytical reporting tools which, using tables and graphical outputs, inform the users of:

• the current epidemiological situation in the Czech Republic in terms of childhood cancers, enabling users to select among specific diagnoses as classified by the International Classification of Childhood Cancer (ICCC),
• long-term survival of childhood cancer patients.

The presented analytical outputs and reports are based on all available data sources in the Czech Republic. In particular, these involve data from the Czech National Cancer Registry, which have been validated against the clinical database of childhood cancers in the Czech Republic and further combined with data from the National Register of Hospitalised Patients and data from the Death Records database. These validated data have been used to determine the incidence and survival rates of childhood cancer patients in the Czech Republic. Data from the Death Records database have been used to monitor the long-term mortality trends.

Thank you for your interest in this portal. Your comments, suggestions and questions are welcome at krejcid@iba.muni.cz.