[The Livre Blanc on cancer surgery]

Among the several therapeutic weapons against cancer, surgical oncology has always been a major, and remains, up today. But in that field, outcomes are heavily dependent on the way the surgery is conducted.

The National Federation of Cancer Centers, in accordance with all French cancer specialists, tried to define the adequate conditions allowing the best practices for surgical oncology. This work called Livre blanc, includes several proposals to public authorities.

Both a specific survey within the French cancer centers and an analysis of public databases have been conducted first. Several experts groups of surgeons and oncologists have been organized, in order to discuss and improve the proposals.

Different specificities of surgical oncology are described in the Livre Blanc: The state of medical capacities and it's organization, the impact of the good clinical practice on the outcomes, and the lack of recognition of this speciality. Two main proposals are highlighted: the need of setting up a university diploma better adapted to the main speciality, and the coordination of surgical oncology activity within cancer care networks.