Physician-defined severe toxicities occurring during and after cancer treatment: Modified consensus definitions and clinical applicability in the evaluation of cancer treatment.

Overall survival after cancer is increasing for the majority of cancer types, but survivors can be burdened lifelong by treatment-related severe toxicities. Integration of long-term toxicities in treatment evaluation is not least important for children and young adults with cancers with high survival probability. We present modified consensus definitions of 21 previously published physician-defined Severe Toxicities (STs), each reflecting the most serious long-term treatment-related toxicities and representing an unacceptable price for cure. Applying the Severe Toxicity (ST) concept to real-world data required careful adjustments of the original consensus definitions, translating them into standardized endpoints for evaluating treatment-related outcomes to ensure that (1) the STs can be classified uniformly and prospectively across different cohorts, and (2) the ST definitions allow for valid statistical analyses. The current paper presents the resulting modified consensus definitions of the 21 STs proposed to be included in outcome reporting of cancer treatment.

[Varicella vaccination].

Chickenpox is generally considered a benign childhood disease. However, serious complications may arise. A safe and efficient vaccine is available, and universal chickenpox vaccination is already introduced in many countries. Denmark, among other countries, has been reluctant to introduce the vaccine due to insufficient information on disease burden and concerns regarding herpes zoster incidence and a potential age shift. In this review, we present current knowledge regarding the disease burden of chickenpox in Denmark and discuss perspectives on introducing the vaccine in Denmark.