February 16, 2023 - The five-year survival rate of children with malignant diseases in Croatia is above the European average, and according to data, in 2021, 16 children under the age of 19 died from malignant diseases in the Republic of Croatia, according to the announcement of the HZJZ on the International Childhood Cancer Day.

As 24Sata / HINA writes, according to the latest data from the Cancer Registry of the Republic of Croatia, in 2020, 159 children under the age of 19 were diagnosed with malignant diseases in Croatia, out of which 67 were female.

In the past ten years, an average of 157 children under the age of 19 were diagnosed, and 27 died of malignant diseases.

At the national level in Croatia, out of a total of 159 children with a newly diagnosed malignant disease in 2020, 49 were under the age of 4, 27 were between the ages of 5 and 9, 34 were between the ages of 10 and 14 and 49 between the ages of 15 and 15. up to 19 years.

The most common diagnoses of malignant diseases in children were leukemia, lymphomas and malignant brain and spinal cord tumors.

In treating malignant diseases, it is difficult to define a cure, but it is common to take five-year survival as a measure of cure. Data from the extensive global observational study CONCORD-3 published in the Lancet journal show that five-year survival from malignant diseases in children in Croatia is above the European average. It is 95 percent for childhood lymphomas, 85 percent for acute lymphatic leukemia, and 73 percent for brain tumors.

Malignant diseases in childhood have significant social and medical consequences. The diagnosis and the changes in everyday life due to the new situation represent a significant stressor for the child and their family. To overcome the daily difficulties they face in caring for their child, it is necessary for parents to have help: equal access to care and modern treatment procedures and, just as importantly, families need psychological support in a timely manner, the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ) points out.

They also emphasize that support is needed even after the end of therapy because patients and their families can face the physical and psychological consequences long after a diagnosis of a malignant disease and the often very intensive treatment.

International Childhood Cancer Day is celebrated on February 15 with the aim of raising awareness about malignant diseases in children and providing support to ill children and adolescents, as well as their families and survivors.

Based on the decision of the Croatian Parliament, since 2006, February 15 has been celebrated in Croatia as National Childhood Cancer Day.

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November 12, 2022 - Private healthcare in Croatia is increasingly focused on treating malignant diseases. Some modern methods of cancer treatment are already proving successful.

As Poslovni writes, the expert team of the Special Hospital Radiochirurgia Zagreb has so far had the opportunity to treat more than seven thousand patients and has analysed more than ninety thousand cases, among which all forms of cancer were represented. Lung, liver, and prostate cancers were the most common types. These figures and the latest cancer treatment achievements were presented at the 8^th Croatian Surgical Congress with international activities. As part of the Congress, surgeons from leading hospitals in Heidelberg, Dallas, Tel Aviv, Athens, Liege, Basel, Ljubljana, Maribor, Belgrade, and Zagreb visited Radiochirurgia Zagreb Special Hospital in Sveta Nedelja.

"In six years of operation, Radiochirurgia Zagreb has grown into one of the leading regional and European cancer treatment centers. Using the linear accelerator Varian Edge and CyberKnife S7, which enables the treatment of cancer with the help of artificial intelligence, as well as a superbly equipped oncological-surgical theatre, the expert team of Radiochirurgia Zagreb was the first to introduce modern adaptive-hybrid surgery into practice in this part of Europe, which, in cases where it is indicated, combines classic surgery with radiosurgery and interventional radiology", they point out from the institution headed by Dragan Schwartz.

What the expert team of the Special Hospital is most proud of are the results of the treatment of pancreatic cancer, which they treated in the last five years in 340 patients, 120 of whom were diagnosed with an inoperable locally advanced form, where the survival rate for 50 percent of patients was longer than two years and 13 percent longer than four years. According to available data, this is currently the longest survival rate for this form of cancer worldwide.

At Radiochirurgia Zagreb, they believe that the hybrid approach to treatment will become more and more common in practice, and concrete cooperation with several leading institutions was also agreed upon at the congress.

Private healthcare in Croatia is increasingly focused on treating malignant diseases - this is confirmed by the announcement of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's (UPMC) investment of around 15 million euros in Zabok, based on a cooperation agreement with the St. Catherine's Special Hospital. As announced this week, the establishment of the new Center for the Treatment of Malignant Diseases in Zabok will provide Croatian patients with diagnostic and therapeutic services fully equivalent to those in the USA, in accordance with the current prices of the HZZO.

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ZAGREB, 3 April 2022 - About 150 people in Croatia are annually diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and the survival rate is about 5% below the EU average, a round table on the treatment and quality of life of AML patients heard earlier this week.

"In Croatia, every week three persons are told they have AML, which is 156 annually, according to data from the Cancer Register for 2019. The five-year survival rate is 12.6%, compared to the EU average of 17.2%, which shows that there is considerable room for improving treatment", the participating doctors and patients said at the round table.

AML is the most common type of acute leukemia in adulthood and the most frequent age at diagnosis is 65 years, with increasing incidence after 65 years of age. It has the lowest survival rate compared to other types of leukemia and is treatable in about 40 per cent of patients aged under 60 years, most frequently by bone marrow transplantation from an unrelated donor.

"In Croatia, we have 70,000 bone marrow samples and we can find an unrelated donor relatively quickly, which is why nearly every patient in Croatia has a chance to get a transplant and be cured. The number of transplantations has reached one hundred annually, which is within the European average," haematologist Radovan Vrhovac said.

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ZAGREB, 20 Jan 2022 - The public health campaign called "It's Time" was presented in Zagreb on Thursday, with the aim of encouraging the implementation of Croatia's National Cancer Strategic Framework which has been delayed for a year during which time 15,637 people died of cancer, or 20% more than the European average.

The National Cancer Strategic Framework was adopted in the parliament a year ago and the campaign was launched by associations of oncology patients who wish to bring together the most important stakeholders in the health system and stimulate them to start implementing the plan.

An estimated 170,000 people in Croatia are suffering from some type of cancer, which is the second-highest cause of death in the country.

"Every day an estimated 30 people die of cancer and each year more than 25,000 are diagnosed and that is why we are saying that it's time to get moving. We've lost one year of the national plan and more than 15,000 lost their lives and it's time for us all to be actively involved," the president of the coalition of associations in the healthcare system, Ivica Belina, told a press conference on Thursday.

Assistant Health Minister Vera Katalinić Janković said that an action plan for the fight against cancer would be put into the procedure in the next week or so, to cover the next three-year period, as a first step in implementing the plan.

"The national plan will not be just a paper tiger nor a list of good wishes and it will be implemented, however, this is a process that cannot be conducted overnight. The ministry has formed task forces and I can add that the Action Plan is finished," she said.

The plan includes new radiology equipment, setting up an oncology network and database, as well as prevention, early detection, adequate treatment, and patient rehabilitation, said Katalinić Janković.

Cancer, a major health problem in Croatia, accounts for 27% of deaths in the country. It is a leading cause of death in people under the age of 65 and is the cause of every second death among women and 35% of deaths among men.

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ZAGREB, November 12, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic on Thursday met with representatives of the Croatia against Cancer initiative, an association of cancer patients, supporting their demands for the adoption of a national cancer strategy as soon as possible.

Croatia is the only EU member state that still hasn't adopted a national cancer strategy which would represent a model of true and more than necessary reform of the health system which Croatia has to implement with the aim of improving the outcome of treatment and ensuring patient rights guaranteed by the Constitution, the meeting was told.

The initiative's representatives warned that adopting the strategy would put Croatia in a position to use EU funds intended for the fight against cancer, which now is not possible.

August 29, 2020 – The team of Croatian scientists' published results prove that extracts from a medicinal fungus stop tumours growing, spreading and help chemotherapy.

A team of Croatian scientists has proven that a known medicinal fungus can be used in effectively fighting colon cancer. They published their findings in a renowned science journal over the past week.

The team, led by Boris Jakopović (Dr Myko San, Croatia), presented the results of effects on colon cancer by a complex series of extracts from the Agarikon.1 medicinal mushroom. They proved that the extracts strongly inhibit the growth of existing tumours and prevent the spreading of the disease. Boris Jakopović has been testing the effectiveness of medicinal mushrooms on cancer for several years.

A further positive effect on a number of other proteins - biomarkers associated with a better prognosis for progression of the disease - was also found and detailed in the study. This effect of the mushroom extracts can significantly enhance the effectiveness of standard chemotherapy and also alleviate its side effects.

Croatian scientists who also undertook the work and co-signed the published findings were Anita Horvatić from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Zagreb, Nada Oršolić from the Faculty of Science in Zagreb, Marko Klobučar, Sandra Kraljević Pavelić and Petra Grbčić from the University of Rijeka. Andrea Gelemanović from the Mediterranean Institute for Life Research in Split and Ivan Jakopović from the company Dr Myko San.

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As Glas Istre/Borka Petrovic writes on the 10th of January, 2020, one incredibly brave sixteen year old girl from Pula has taken on and successfully beaten cancer.

''Instead of getting nervous about receiving my exam results in the semester of first grade in high school, I was waiting for my blood test results, and instead of reading for school, I was reading about the side effects of medicines I was going to be taking, and learning about them. As my friends swam in the sea in the summer, I was throwing up. I'm sorry I went through such a difficult period, but my illness was not only a huge burden for me, but kind of a gift, too,'' Erin says.

In the Republic of Croatia, about 150 children become ill each year with malignancies. Erin Rupčić is one of them. She found out that she had malignant Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of just fourteen, in the final grade of elementary school. Today, the worst of the cancer is now thankfully behind her. Brave Erin from Pula went through everything she went through while being treated for cancer, the day after her sixteenth birthday was celebrated.

It was 2018, just before the spring holidays. I remember it was Wednesday, because on Friday I was supposed to perform for the senior volleyball team for the first time and I was really excited about that. After school I decided to take a little stroll around the city and I noticed a little lump on my neck. It didn't seem like a scary thing to me, but I showed it to my mum anyway, and that's when the visits to the wards of the Pula hospital began,'' Erin recalls.

After several diagnoses, from it being a simple cyst to her just having had a mere swollen lymph node, at the insistence of her parents, Erin went for more intense tests in Rijeka. After the results from the PET / CT scans caused alarm, they were followed by a biopsy and an irrefutable diagnosis - lymphatic cell cancer. Her childhood was instantly interrupted in the most unimaginable way possible, and this schoolgirl from Pula was forced to grow up much more quickly than she should have.

''I didn't even know what cancer was, I was fourteen and had never been seriously ill before. Almost all of my hair fell out after I underwent my first chemotherapy, so I decided to shave the rest of it off. First, I was a little ashamed of it, you don't see girls without any hair very often. But in the end, it wasn't that much of a problem for me. I knew my hair would grow back and that I needed to survive,'' concludes Erin, who has now beaten the disease and can return to her normal life after a difficult but victorious battle.

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