National and Institutional Research Efforts

National and international emergency medicine research networks exist, but none are specifically focused on oncologic emergency care. Oncologic emergency medicine is an emerging subdiscipline necessitated by the rising incidence of cancer worldwide (due in part to the aging population), the increase in outpatient delivery of care, and the rise in survivorship. General emergency centers are likely to see an increase in cancer patients presenting for care and these patients can be expected to have complicating comorbidities, such as diabetes, congestive heart failure, and COPD. In the United States (USA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) invests about $41.7 billion annually in medical research. More than 80% of this funding is awarded for extramural research, largely through almost 50,000 competitive grants to more than 300,000 researchers from more than 2500 universities, medical schools, and other research institutions in every state. Of note, there is no institute that is dedicated to emergency medicine. Fundamentally, moving the science of oncologic emergencies forward requires collaboration with scientists from different disciplines, building upon existing research infrastructure, and investing in training and education of emergency department (ED) practitioners in research. In this chapter, we review research focusing on oncologic emergencies and present the study limitations identified by the authors, present two ongoing research programs at a national and institutional level, and offer future directions.