CONGRESS NEWS

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)

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium 2013

Summary

From the 24^th till the 26^th of January, San Francisco was the setting for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium 2013. The meeting, cosponsored by ASCO, ASTRO and SSO, again focused on multidisciplinary approaches to the prevention, screening, evaluation, and management of gastrointestinal (GI) cancers.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2013;7(2):57–59)

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Genitourinary Cancers Symposium 2013

Summary

The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Genitourinary Cancers Symposium 2013 held from the 14^th – 16^th of February, 2013, in Orlando, Florida, focused on multidisciplinary approaches to the prevention, screening, evaluation, and management of genitourinary (GU) cancers.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2013;7(2):60–62)

The 35^th San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium

Summary

From December 4^th-8^th 2012, San Antonio, Texas, was again transformed into the world’s capital in the fight against breast cancer. The 2012 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 the Baylor College of Medicine. This years’ meeting drew nearly 8,000 participants from over 90 countries and again proved to be the number one breast cancer meeting in the world. This report does not aim to summarise the entire meeting but discusses the key highlights of the meeting.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2013;7:31–33)

The 6th Belgian symposium on the integration of molecular biology advances into oncology clinical practice

On the 23^rd and 24^th of November 2012, the Jules Bordet Institute and the Belgian Society of Medical Oncology (BSMO) hosted the 6^th Belgian symposium on the integration of molecular biology advances into oncology clinical practice. The aim of this meeting once more was to translate the major advances made in molecular and biological understanding in cancer into clear messages for daily oncological, clinical practice. Over the two days, a plethora of Belgian and international key opinion leaders discussed the clinical impact of molecular advances in several tumour types. Given the high quality of the different lectures, it was not surprising to see that the meeting again obtained the ESMO label. (BELG J MED ONCOL 2012;6:207–211)

European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2012

From September 29^th till October 2^nd, Vienna formed the spectacular background for the annual meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO). It was the third time that Vienna played host to the ESMO Congress, with previous congresses taking place in 1996 and 2004. However, this years’ edition proved to be the biggest and best congress yet with an astonishing 16,394 delegates from all over the world. Given the vast amount of data presented at ESMO 2012, this report does not aim to summarise the entire meeting, but will focus on ten important take-home messages from the meeting, presented during one of the presidential or proffered paper sessions. All abstracts presented during ESMO 2012 can be consulted at http://abstracts.webges.com/esmo2012/myitinerary. (BELG J MED ONCOL 2012;6:176–180)

The 3rd European Lung Cancer Conference

From April 18^th till April 21^st, the third European Lung Cancer Conference (ELCC) was hosted in Geneva. Over the past few years, the ELCC has become the reference event in Europe for professionals treating patients with lung cancer. The third edition of this exciting meeting provided a comprehensive multidisciplinary overview of the state-of-the-art knowledge in thoracic malignancies, covering different aspects such as prevention, screening, early diagnosis, treatment modalities and the result of translational and clinical research. The meeting attracted over 1,500 attendees from all over the world. This report does not pretend to summarise the entire meeting but simply aims at discussing some important take-home messages from the congress. (BELG J MED ONCOL 2012;6:136–139)