COG
Also written as: COG — Children's Oncology Group
Children's Oncology Group; the primary North American cooperative clinical trials organization for pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancer.
Full Definition
The Children's Oncology Group (COG) is a National Cancer Institute–supported clinical trials group that develops and conducts cancer research for patients from birth through young adulthood. COG protocols define staging systems, histological grading criteria, and treatment regimens for virtually all pediatric solid tumours and haematological malignancies. Pathology reports generated under COG protocols must adhere precisely to COG-defined terminology and staging language. Editors working on pediatric oncology documents must recognize COG as a proper noun acronym requiring all-caps formatting and should be aware that staging, risk grouping, and histological classification in such documents are governed by current COG guidelines.
Usage
Usage note: Always expand on first mention: 'Children's Oncology Group (COG)'. Do not confuse with the older 'POG' (Pediatric Oncology Group), which merged into COG in 2000.
In Context
- "Risk stratification followed current COG AREN (renal tumour) protocol criteria, with the patient assigned to the intermediate-risk group." — Oncology multidisciplinary team report
- "The manuscript cited outdated POG staging; the editor queried whether COG staging should be substituted." — Peer-review editorial note