Continuous professional development: elevating thoracic oncology education in Europe

Abstract

Thoracic oncology encompasses a broad spectrum of primary tumour entities originating from various pulmonary, tracheobronchial, pleural, mediastinal and chest wall tissues or distinct cell types within these compartments. Lung cancer represents by far the most frequent malignant tumour within the thoracic cavity, and is the most common type and largest killer among all cancers worldwide. Lung cancer leads mortality statistics in Europe, accounting for at least one fifth of all cancer-related deaths [1]. In addition, lung cancer causes a significant burden of symptoms in a population of patients with high comorbidity, providing significant challenges to national healthcare systems in the European Union, with the highest overall costs among all cancer types [2–4]. Contrary to the general stigma applied to lung cancer patients, where they are often assumed to suffer from a self-inflicted disease, it is now estimated that up to 10–20% of lung cancer patients are never-smokers [5, 6]. Even if numerically far lower, the remaining <5% of primary thoracic malignancies other than lung cancer challenge thoracic oncology specialists, as well general pulmonologists, often in daily practice, be they pleural mesotheliomas, thymic or neuroendocrine tumours, sarcomas or rare entities such as germ-cell tumours [7, 8].