October is Liver Cancer Awareness Month. DiCE will actively take part to raise awareness for this digestive cancer that is difficult to detect and treat. This includes both the launch of our White Paper ‘Liver Cancer: No Patient Left Behind’ at our Masterclass dedicated to the topic on October 26 – jointly with our partner the European Liver Patients’ Association (ELPA) ; and daily social media posts throughout the months including the key facts and signs and symptoms of the disease. Such key facts include:

• Every year, ~87.000 people are diagnosed with liver cancer, while approximately 78.000 die, putting liver cancer in the seventh position of the most frequent cancer-related cause of death in Europe.¹
• Europe has the largest burden of liver disease in the world, with the burden expected to grow.
• Liver cancer costs around €4 billion each year in Europe, of which €1,2 billion relates to direct costs.²

Several different factors, such as increasing rates of hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) infection, rising alcohol consumption, and rising numbers of people with obesity, are all contributing to increasing rates of liver cancer in Europe. Liver cancer can be challenging to diagnose due to lack of early symptoms, and difficult to treat due to its complexity and because many patients also have a second disease – cirrhosis of the liver.

But we are optimistic. Many of the risk factors associated with liver cancer are preventable or modifiable. We are learning much more about how and when to screen for liver cancer or its associated risks, and if liver cancer is diagnosed early through screening, then the prognosis for patients is significantly better. Treatments are continuing to improve. Survival rates in countries where best practices are being implemented are significantly higher.

DiCE will continue working with all key stakeholders to raise awareness about liver cancer and to ensure that best practices are implemented at every stage of the patient pathway in each country, giving every patient the best possible opportunity of a positive outcome.

Would you like to get involved?

As mentioned for the month we are planning the following activities. We hope you can join us:

• Together with ELPA we have drafted a white paper calling for increased equality of best practice implementation in the prevention, diagnosis and management of liver cancer across Europe. The launch of the white paper will take place at our fifth Masterclass meeting on 26 October. This event will bring together researchers and politicians to discuss prevention and advances in the clinical research field, while bringing into the conversation the viewpoint of politicians working to improve Europeans’ health. Find out more and register
• We will run a daily social media post highlighting the disease in our channels. You can use our social media calendar and images to post in your own channels using our already prepared messages or simply like, follow and share our posts – as it best suits you!

Would you like more details? Please contact us.

References

1. Data from the European Cancer Information System, 2020.

2. Hofmarcher T, Lindgren P. The Cost of Cancers of the Digestive System in Europe. IHE report.2020;6. IHE: The Swedish Institute for Health Economics, Lund, Sweden.

Author:
Vassiliki Fotaki