Through networking across hospital locations, any patient or medical professional has access to up-to-date knowledge on the latest cancer treatments, and patients’ data can contribute to research and progress, regardless of their location. In order to provide the best available care and make progress in cancer research, it is of the highest importance that everyone contributes however they can. The more information we gather together, the more can be learned from it. More knowledge is the key to new and better cancer treatments.

How can you contribute to advance cancer research?

Medical Professionals treating cancer patients at various hospital location can contribute by:

Cancer patients at various hospital locations can contribute by:

  • Asking your doctor about possibilities to participate in cancer research
  • Providing consent to use medical samples for cancer research purposes
  • Participating in available clinical studies

Everyone can contribute by:

  • Creating awareness about research at Cancer Center Amsterdam
  • Contributing or raising funds for Cancer Center Amsterdam Foundation
  • Communicating your ideas to support research at Cancer Center Amsterdam

Exchanging the latest insights

To make progress in cancer research and care, collaborations between medical experts at different locations and between researchers and care professionals are essential. New digital technologies facilitate connections among professionals at different hospitals, so they can easily exchange patient and research data and discuss insights. When professionals exchange their knowledge, cancer patients benefit from these shared insights. One example is the neuro-oncology triage online expert panel.

Science and care connected

Within our multidisciplinary academic hospital, specific expertise centers - such as the bladder cancer center or the brain tumor center  - enroll patients for treatment and participation in research. The advantage is that patients receive the best available care, and may participate in clinical trials or research to identify better treatments. Regional networking extends our patient care beyond Amsterdam UMC, enabling more patients and their physicians to contribute to scientific research.

Sharing data through digital networks

Important developments in digital infrastructure empower the sharing of patient data among medical professionals at different hospitals. This reduces patient burden and medical expenses as certain medical exams do not have to be repeated after a referral to a different hospital. Importantly, fast and efficient data sharing is part of providing optimum care to cancer patients. It can greatly reduce the time required to determine a diagnosis and also limit the timespan between diagnosis and treatment. In this era, it is no longer agreeable to lose time by exchanging patient medical images between physicians using DVDs. In the Netherlands, more hospitals are becoming connected to exchange information and images digitally. 

One winning team, different roles

Every hospital has different facilities. When medical professionals at different hospitals operate as one team, the patients are winning. While each facility may have its own role to play, either in diagnosis, providing actual treatment to a patient, coordinating the provided therapy, or collecting and analyzing patient data for research, when we all work together more patients are involved and more data is collected to advance our knowledge.

At Amsterdam UMC Cancer Center Amsterdam, an academic hospital, we are focused on performing state-of-the art research in order to provide the best patient care. Networking and data sharing with other hospitals greatly helps to enroll more patients in clinical studies, collect more samples to support research and extract more information. With your help we can learn more from more patients and develop new and better cancer therapies more quickly.

Want to know more about how you can contribute? Mail to cca@amsterdamumc.nl and we will connect you with the right people.