CONGRESS NEWS

The first Belgian multidisciplinary meeting on urological cancers

The Belgian multidisciplinary meeting on urological cancers was initiated as the first national multidisciplinary scientific meeting of medical oncologists (BSMO), urologists (BAU) and radiotherapists (ABRO-BVRO). It was a great opportunity to build bridges between these three important specialisations involved in the treatment of uro-oncology.

The steering committee of the meeting consisted of J. P. Machiels, G. Pelgrims, S. Rottey (BSMO); L. Hoekx, S. Joniau, T. Roumeguere (BAU); O. De Hertogh, G. De Meerleer and Y. Neybuch (ABRO-BVRO). The first meeting, held in Brussels on March 29th, 2014 was a great success with more than 150 attendees of the different specialisations involved.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2014;8(5):224–7)

Highlights from the 29 Annual European Association of Urology Congress

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2014;8(3):98–100)

Highlights from the 9 European Breast Cancer Conference

The European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC9) held in Glasgow, Scotland from 19 to 21 March was the largest Breast Cancer Conference outside the USA and again provided a multidisciplinary setting for all professionals with a common interest in breast cancer to navigate, discuss, inform and educate themselves about this evolving disease landscape; to debate and deliberate about new data and developments; and to establish what it means for patient treatment and care. This report aims at giving a short overview of the most important data presented at the meeting. For a more complete overview we refer to the congress website http://www.ecco-org.eu.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2014;8(2):55–8)

Highlights from the 36 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

From the 10^th till the 14^th of December, San Antonio, TX was again transformed into the world’s capital in the fight against breast cancer. The 2013 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS) was a joint presentation of the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, the American Association for Cancer Research, and Baylor College of Medicine. This years’ meeting drew more than 7,000 participants from all over the globe and again proved to be the number one breast cancer meeting in the world. This report will highlight 10 key studies presented during the meeting.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2014;8(1):23–6)

The 2013 ECCO – ESMO – ESTRO European Cancer Congress

Summary

From September 27^th till the first of October, the ECCO – ESMO – ESTRO European Cancer Congress (ECC) again proved to be the premier cancer congress in Europe. Featuring the strongest and most forward-focused scientific programme to date, the 33 tracks at the meeting spanned the entire oncology spectrum and showcased the latest practice-changing developments in oncology. For a complete overview of abstracts presented at ECC2013 we refer to the congress website (eccamsterdam2013.ecco-org.eu) which also features over 1,000 session webcasts from the meeting. This summary will focus on a selection of top studies presented during the meeting.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2013;7(5):159–63)

The 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology

Summary

From May 31^st till June 4^th, Chicago again hosted the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The ASCO Annual Meeting brought together over 25,000 oncology professionals from a broad range of specialties. This summary does not aim at giving a complete overview of the meeting but will briefly touch on twenty key studies presented at the meeting. All abstracts cited in this summary can be consulted in more detail at the ASCO website (am.asco.org).

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2013;7(4):127–32)

The 2^nd European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) Forum

Summary

Highlights of the 2^nd ESTRO forum, 19^th-23^rd April 2013, Geneva, Switzerland.
Organised every other year, the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) Forum follows the concept of combining several meetings encompassing the various aspects of the radiation oncology arena: clinical and translational research, brachytherapy, radiation physics, radiation technology and normal tissue effects of radiotherapy. This approach allows clinicians, medical physicists, radiobiologists, radiation technologists and nurses to attend a plethora of symposia, teaching lectures and debates, all directed at fostering interdisciplinarity and encouraging exchange of knowledge and experience between the professionals involved in radiotherapy. In this brief overview we mainly focus on the important clinical findings presented at the conference. All abstracts are freely available at www.estro.org.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2013;7(3):98–100)