Poster Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2026

From global perspectives to local practice: a literature review to develop a framework for an early-onset cancer program in Australia  (146169)

Mei Sim Lung 1 , Keyun Wang 2 , Meliz Emin 1 , Oshadini Wijekoon 1 , Mahesh Iddawela 1 3
  1. Department of Medicine, Bayside Health Peninsula, Frankston, Victoria, Australia
  2. Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
  3. Peninsula Clinical School, School of Translational Medicine, Monash University, Frankston, Victoria, Australia

Aims: Early-onset cancer1 (EOC), diagnosed at age 20-49 years, creates service-delivery challenges as EOC patients have distinct reproductive, psychosocial, financial and survivorship needs. At Bayside Health Peninsula, 399 new EOC patients were discussed at oncology MDMs over the last 5 years. We aimed to identify core components of EOC programs from the literature, to inform design of a local EOC program.

Methods: We performed a structured literature search across eight databases (Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, CINAHL, PubMed, Web of Science, Informit, Cochrane Library) using concept blocks for early/young-onset disease, cancer and program/service delivery. Paediatric, childhood and adolescent and young adult (AYA) terms were excluded. Title/abstract screening was performed to select results which addressed an EOC program or service component. Records were excluded if they focused primarily on EOC biology without relevance to service delivery.

Results: Of 515 records identified, 166 remained after duplicate removal. Eighteen2-19 relevant results (11 publications, seven conference abstracts) were identified. Results were dominated by North American early-onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) programs. Recurrent components were timely recognition and referral, multidisciplinary intake, a dedicated patient navigator, genetic assessment and education, fertility and sexual-health pathways, psychosocial and financial support, survivorship care, palliative-care access where required, and registry or research infrastructure. This informed a proposed model: a central multidisciplinary team and navigator would assess needs and link patients across age-specific services. Specialist services could be delivered centrally or through local oncology, primary care and community partners. The evidence base was mainly descriptive and comparative outcome evaluation was lacking.

Conclusions: An Australian EOC program should be designed with a patient navigator linking EOC patients to multidisciplinary assessments and age-specific supportive services. Much of the research comes from EOCRC centres, but appears generalisable to oncology units in public hospitals. More research assessing the effectiveness of EOC programs is needed.

 

 

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