Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group
Overview
The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) was established in 1955 as one of the first cooperative groups launched to perform multi-center cancer clinical trials. A cooperative group is a large network of researchers, physicians, and health care professionals at public and private institutions across the country who are members of the group. Funded primarily by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), ECOG has evolved from a five member consortium of institutions on the East Coast to one of the largest clinical cancer research organizations in the U.S. with almost 6,000 physicians, nurses, pharmacists, statisticians, and clinical research associates (CRAs) from the U.S., Canada, and South Africa. Institutional members include universities, medical centers, Community Clinical Oncology Programs (CCOPs), and Cooperative Group Outreach Programs (CGOPs). These institutions work toward the common goal of controlling, effectively treating, and ultimately curing cancer. Research results are provided to the world-wide medical community through scientific publications and professional meetings.
Currently, ECOG has more than 90 active clinical trials in all types of adult malignancies. Annual accrual is 6,000 patients, with more than 20,000 patients in follow-up.
ECOG's coordinating center is based in Boston, Massachusetts while its Group Chair's office is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Examples of ECOG clinical trials
- 1. A study that establishes an effective chemotherapy regimen in acute promyelocytic leukemia.
- 2. A study that demonstrated that a less-toxic regimen had similar results to the standard treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
- 3. A study that demonstrated that an intensive bone marrow transplant regimen for patients with metastatic breast cancer who responded to inital standard chemotherapy did not improve time to disease progression or lifetime survival.
- 4. A study that establishes an effective treatment program involving chemotherapy and radiation therapy for early lung cancer.
Quality Assurance
The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group has all of its protocol driven cases reviewed at the Quality Assurance Review Center (QARC). As mandated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), every radiotherapy department participating in an ECOG study must submit their data to QARC for review. QARC is located in Providence, Rhode Island and reviews thousands of cases per year. The center was founded in 1977 as a not-for-profit healthcare organization designed to provide quality assurance for CALGB studies. Radiotherapy data from around one-thousand hospitals in both the United States and abroad is reviewed and archived at QARC.
Another center for quality assurance is the Radiological Physics Center (RPC) in Houston, Texas. The primary responsibility of the RPC is to assure the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and its cooperative groups like COG that all participating institutions are following the guidelines set-forth for the physics-related aspects of radiotherapy. Established in 1968, the RPC has consistently received funding from the NCI in order to perform the aforementioned mission.