Ultra-rare sarcomas: A consensus paper from the Connective Tissue Oncology Society community of experts on the incidence threshold and the list of entities.

Background: Among sarcomas, which are rare cancers, many types are exceedingly rare; however, a definition of ultra-rare cancers has not been established. The problem of ultra-rare sarcomas is particularly relevant because they represent unique diseases, and their rarity poses major challenges for diagnosis, understanding disease biology, generating clinical evidence to support new drug development, and achieving formal authorization for novel therapies.

Methods: The Connective Tissue Oncology Society promoted a consensus effort in November 2019 to establish how to define ultra-rare sarcomas through expert consensus and epidemiologic data and to work out a comprehensive list of these diseases.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Cancer Care in the Post Pandemic World: Five Major Lessons Learnt from Challenges and Countermeasures of Major Asian Cancer Centres.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected healthcare services around Asia. The Asian National Cancer Centres Alliance and the Asia-Pacific Organisation for Cancer Prevention collaborated to assess the mid- and long- term impact of COVID-19 to cancer care in Asia.

Methods: The two entities organised a combined symposium and post-meeting interactions among representatives of major cancer centres from seventeen Asian countries to outlining major challenges and countermeasures.

Prognostic factors analysis for oral cavity cancer survival in the Netherlands and Taiwan using a privacy-preserving federated infrastructure.

The difference in incidence of oral cavity cancer (OCC) between Taiwan and the Netherlands is striking. Different risk factors and treatment expertise may result in survival differences between the two countries. However due to regulatory restrictions, patient-level analyses of combined data from the Netherlands and Taiwan are infeasible.

Rare cancers are not rare in Asia as well: The rare cancer burden in East Asia.

Introduction: Epidemiologic information on rare cancers is scarce outside of the Western countries. The project "surveillance of rare cancers in Asia" (RARECAREnet Asia) provides, for the first time, the burden of rare cancers in some Asian countries based on the latest list.

Objectives: 1) to assess whether the European list of rare cancers fits the Asian setting and 2) to compare the incidences of rare cancers between Europe and Asian countries.