La transition vers l’âge adulte: une période charnière dans la prise en charge continue des jeunes patients

In recent decades, follow-up of cancer survivors has taken on its full meaning with gradual improvement in survival of children and adolescents with cancer. This follow-up is associated specially for adolescents with a multitude of transitions: transition from therapeutic management to monitoring for possible relapse, transition into long-term follow-up after childhood cancer, transition from a pediatric system to an adult care system. If this transition can be perceived as difficult by patients, it gives young people opportunity to access more autonomous follow-up and support in becoming an adult. Supporting transition should make caregivers attentive to this time of consolidation of adolescence, favorable to emergence of a sense of stable, mature identity that guarantees a certain autonomy. This is a key to a successful transition limiting breakdown of care and promoting the work of disease. The double contribution of adult and pediatric oncology provides support tailored to these psychic and societal issues. AYA teams can actively participate in this process by facilitating acculturation of pediatric and adult care teams to specificity of this group, thus allowing a continuum of care.