Follow-up clinic

Aftercare is also a form of prevention

Intensive and lengthy treatments often take a toll. As survivors, patients are frequently confronted with long-term effects that may not appear until years after treatment has ended.

Oncological follow-up care rests on two pillars: detecting a recurrence (the return of the disease) and identifying treatment-related long-term effects. These can be caused by the tumor itself, surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy.

Follow-Up Care in Childhood and Adolescence

Follow-up examinations begin immediately after the end of treatment and take place at the follow-up clinic of the University Clinic for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in Vienna.

Many children with malignant tumors can be cured today. However, for some children, treatment carries the risk of long-term effects; this is another reason why regular checkups are necessary for a long time—in fact, for their entire lives.

Follow-up Care in Adulthood

Short-term follow-up care at the clinic (approximately 10 years after the end of medical treatment) is followed by long-term follow-up care. The Transition to long-term follow-up care takes place during a joint discussion with the patient, the clinic, and colleagues from the interdisciplinary long-term follow-up outpatient clinic IONA. IONA’s services include comprehensive medical and psychosocial care and specialize in adults who had cancer during childhood or adolescence.

For adults who had cancer during childhood or adolescence, the interdisciplinary oncology follow-up clinic of the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (Österreichische Gesundheitskasse) was established in 2020 in cooperation with Survivors, the Austrian Children’s Cancer Aid, the Children’s Cancer Aid for Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, St. Anna Children’s Hospital, the University Clinic for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine in Vienna, and the City of Vienna, the interdisciplinary oncology follow-up care clinic of the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) was established at the Mariahilf Health Center.