Colorectal cancer management in Poland: current improvements and future challenges

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second most commonly identified malignant neoplasm diagnosed in men (12% of total cancers) and women (11%) in Poland, while CRC mortality is second in men (10.1%) and third in women (11.2%). The main reasons for increasing incidence and mortality are an aging population and an increase in environmental and lifestyle factors which may lead to cancer. In Poland there is a lack of historical (regularly published and accessible) data on cancer morbidity and survival rates. The Oncology Centre published cancer data for the first time in February 2009 the 2006, which, also for the first time, embraced the entire country. Oncology data collection in Poland is based on a network of 16 Regional Cancer Registries reporting to the Polish National Cancer Registry in Warsaw. An additional source of oncology data is the National Health Fund and the Central Statistical Office. The National Cancer Programme (2005) provides funding at ca 780 million euro, which includes amongst others the Early CRC Detection Programme to promote a free screening colonoscopy. Oncology services in Poland are funded almost entirely by public resources--the national budget as sustained by tax revenues (Ministry of Health) and the National Health Fund as sustained by the obligatory public health insurance contribution. Oncology expenditure covered by the national budget (Ministry of Health) and the National Cancer Programme in 2006 amounted to 44.8 million euro and 105.2 million euro, respectively. All these preventive, curative and organizational efforts have significantly improved access to efficient therapies (including radiotherapy) and diagnostic procedures in recent years in Poland, although, clearly, a lot remains to be done.