PanCare4AYA Kicks Off, A New Chapter in AYA Cancer Survivorship Care Begins

On April 1st 2025, the new EU funded project PanCare4AYA kicked off! Thanks to better treatments, survival rates for Adolescent and Young adult (AYA) cancer have improved largely in the past years. However, there is a long way to go to ensure that all survivors of AYA cancer have optimal quality of life after treatment. To achieve optimal health and quality of life after AYA cancer treatment, appropriate guideline based long-term Survivorship Care is crucial.

About the project

PanCare4AYA will develop an international clinical guideline for surveillance and Survivorship Care, and develop and test a screening programme for AYA cancer survivors to make long-term Survivorship care easier to achieve across Europe. This project will be led by prof. Leontien Kremer in collaboration with dr. Heleen van der Pal from the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology in the Netherlands and will be a collaboration between 29 partners from 14 countries.

The project will build upon the results of the PanCareFollowUp project and guidelines from the International Guideline Harmonization Group and the PanCare network to translate knowledge on guideline based long-term Survivorship Care for childhood cancer survivors to AYA cancer survivors.

Project Objectives

The project will;

  • Develop an international, evidence- and consensus-based guideline for AYA cancer Survivorship Care (screening and follow-up), and develop supportive PLAIN language brochures based on the guideline
  • Develop the person-centred AYA Cancer Survivor Screen programme to apply the AYA cancer Survivorship Care guideline in practice, including a Programme Manual with a Survivorship Care Plan (SCP) template (including Treatment Summary), supporting materials for survivors and healthcare professionals (HCPs) to implement the AYA Cancer Survivor Screen programme and an implementation strategy
  • Develop support tools for the AYA Cancer Survivor Screen programme, including AYA survivor peer support networks, AYA-specific versions of existing digital tools for Survivorship and a guide for developing digital tools for Survivorship Care.
  • Conduct an implementation study of the person-centred AYA Cancer Survivor Screen programme in 11 European countries with 1,000 AYA cancer survivors, to assess the impact of the programme on:
    • Empowerment, mental, psychosocial, QoL outcomes
    • Healthcare delivery and screening-related health
    • Experiences of AYA cancer survivors and HCPs with implementing the state-of-the-art screening programme within a range of different healthcare settings,
    • Feasibility, and
    • Costs for healthcare systems.
  • Contribute to the “Quality of Life” cluster for the Mission on Cancer and establish links with other (EU) initiatives in AYA cancer Survivorship Care to avoid duplication of effort and maximise synergies
  • Develop a Replication Toolkit for the AYA Cancer Survivor Screen programme to support scale-up of the AYA Cancer Survivor Screen programme across Europe
  • Communicate and disseminate the importance of screening in AYA cancer Survivorship Care and the project results to key stakeholders to promote scale-up of the AYA Cancer Survivor Screen programme and improve AYA cancer Survivorship Care across Europe

PanCare4AYA will be a 5-year programme bringing together many partners from all over Europe and connecting the childhood and AYA cancer communities to jointly improve survivorship care for all survivors treated from 0-39 years of age.

Prof Leontien Kremer explains about the importance of connecting these communities to learn from each other and to improve quality of life for AYA Cancer survivors:

Prof. Leontien Kremer, PanCare4AYA Coordinator and research group leader at the Princess Máxima Center specializing in quality of life for childhood cancer survivors, says: “Over the last 20 years, European and international collaboration has greatly improved life-long Survivorship Care for survivors of childhood cancer, but there is much still to be done for survivors of AYA cancer. The needs of AYA cancer survivors are different than childhood or adult cancer survivors, and are not currently met in many countries across Europe.”

Dr. Heleen van der Pal, PanCare4AYA Deputy Coordinator and internal medicine physician at the LATER outpatient clinic in the Princess Máxima Center, says: “In PanCare4AYA, researchers, clinicians and survivors from across Europe will work together to improve Survivorship Care to improve quality of life for this under-served population.”

 

CCI Europe’s Role in the Project

As part of PanCare4AYA, CCI Europe is leading efforts to make peer support a cornerstone of survivorship care for adolescents and young adults. Their role in the project includes:

  • Mapping existing peer support services across Europe,
  • Identifying survivor needs and barriers to access,
  • Creating a Peer Support Manual to guide clinics and survivor groups,
  • Establishing local peer support teams in selected countries,
  • And training survivors to become advocates for better care.

CCI Europe will form a core group of AYA cancer survivors to oversee activities, run workshops, and collaborate with clinics and survivor organisations. These groups won’t just offer emotional support, they will also help shape the future of survivorship care by sharing their experiences and pushing for change.

By connecting survivors, healthcare professionals, and researchers, CCI Europe ensures the survivor voice is heard loud and clear, not just during the project, but long after.

 

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.