(Vienna, 25 January 2024) The Comprehensive Cancer Center Vienna of MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital is hosting a Cancer Prevention Day (hybrid) on February 17, 2024 from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm to mark World Cancer Day. The aim is to prevent cancer or detect it as early as possible. Speakers from various disciplines will provide information on prevention, vaccination, genetics and early detection.
Personalized medicine (also known as precision medicine), the medical megatrend of the 21st century, has arrived in cancer treatment at the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) of MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital. Tumors are analysed there using a detailed genetic profile and state-of-the-art equipment such as PET-CT and patients are treated individually. "Preventing cancer or detecting it as early as possible is even better than the best possible treatment," says Shahrokh Shariat, Head of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Vienna.
Screening day on February 17, 2024
With the Cancer Prevention Day on February 17 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Van Swieten Hall of the Medical University of Vienna (1090 Vienna, Van Swieten Gasse 1a), the CCC offers the general public an overview of the vaccination, screening, genetic and early detection services available for the various types of cancer. The CCC will bring together leading experts from a wide range of disciplines who will be available to the general public for presentations and advice. At 12 p.m., Selbsthilfe Darmkrebs Österreich invites you to a "Bowel Screening Special", where you can find out all the latest news on prevention and early detection of this tumor disease from doctors and personally affected patients.
The event will take place in hybrid form and can also be attended online. Registration at: www.cancerschool.at
The speakers:
- Elmar Joura: HPV vaccination - six types of cancer prevented
- Monika Ferlitsch: Colorectal cancer - Gain many years with one examination
- Christoph Höller: Skin cancer - prevention and early detection
- Mehmet Özsoy: Prostate cancer - Do you know your PSA level?
- Carmen Leser: Detecting breast cancer early, reducing the risk
- Oliver Strobel: Pancreatic cancer - Is early detection possible?
- Thomas Schweiger: Lung cancer - risk, prevention and treatment options
- Christian Singer: What's in my genetics?
- Moderator: Gabriela Kornek, Medical Director of University Hospital Vienna, oncologist
- Bowel screening special "45, so what?" Moderated by Helga Thurnher (Selbsthilfe Darmkrebs), the screening specialists Katayoun Tonninger-Bahadori and Friedrich A. Weiser, among others, provide information and advice
"Personas" show personalized cancer risk
Using fictitious personalities, the "personas", risk factors are presented in a tangible and individualized way. They are intended to encourage personal engagement with the topic of prevention and increase knowledge about risk factors and early detection services. Six personas, three female and three male, were created for the screening day. Anyone who wants to find out about their own personal cancer risk can use the day to find out about relevant parameters such as family history, genetics, lifestyle, age, gender and previous illnesses.
Example of a persona:
- Daniela, 44 years old
Daniela has been smoking at least 10 to 20 cigarettes a day for 20 years. Three years ago, she had an abnormal cancer smear test, after which a piece of tissue was removed from her cervix during an operation (conization). Daniela is recommended an HPV test every three years by her gynaecologist and an HPV vaccination, which is paid for up to the age of 45 after conization.
Daniela has already had to take antibiotics several times due to urinary tract infections. Now she has been diagnosed with invisible blood in her urine. Although she has no other complaints, a cystoscopy by the urologist is recommended. As a heavy smoker, Daniela also has an increased risk of developing lung cancer and other types of cancer.
No one in Daniela's family has had bowel cancer. Therefore, at the age of 45, she will have her first blood test for bowel cancer screening. If the test is positive, she will have the next one in two years. She could also have a screening colonoscopy every 10 years instead, provided no polyp or adenoma was found.
Vaccination against cancer
The HPV vaccination provides well-tolerated protection against HPV infections. The vaccination reduces the risk of genital warts and cervical cancer by up to 90 percent. It also reduces the risk of cancer of the throat, larynx, vagina, anus and penis. The HPV vaccination is free of charge in Austria up to the age of 21 and is generally recommended for women and men up to the age of 30.