BJMO - volume 14, issue 4, june 2020
J. Blokken PhD, PharmD, Tom Feys MBA, MSc
On the 14th and 15th of February 2020, the Belgian Society of Medical Oncology (BSMO) organised the 22nd annual BSMO meeting in Ghent. At this meeting, medical oncologists, oncologists in training and other specialists involved in the management of cancer patients again had the opportunity to gather as a community, exchange ideas and engage in cooperation.
(BELG J MED ONCOL 2020;14(4):171–7)
Read moreBJMO - volume 14, issue 3, may 2020
L. Decoster MD, PhD, C. Kenis RN, PhD
The 2019 annual conference of the International Society of Geriatric Oncology took place in Geneva, Switzerland from November 14–16th. This year, the International Society of Geriatric Oncology and the International Federation on Ageing also jointly hosted a meeting at the United Nations on the development and preparation of health care professionals for the ageing population with cancer.
(BELG J MED ONCOL 2020;14(3):114–5)
Read moreBJMO - volume 14, issue 3, may 2020
W. Lybaert MD, A. Demols MD, PhD, I. Dero MD
At the background of the Golden Gate Bridge with a view on the Pacific Ocean, the annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium was held from 23rd until 25th January 2020 in the Moscone Congress Center in San Francisco, California. During this meeting, the potential of immunotherapy in the treatment of cancers from the upper and lower digestive tract was discussed, but no major breakthroughs were presented this year. In addition to immunotherapy, ASCO GI 2020 featured several interesting presentations on the molecular profiling of different types of gastro-intestinal cancers. These increased molecular insights will hopefully pave the way for a more biomarker-driven treatment approach for these tumours in the near future. In this report, the most important headlines will be discussed, with comments on the clinical relevance of the different studies.
(BELG J MED ONCOL 2020;14(3):116–25)
Read moreBJMO - volume 14, issue 3, may 2020
Tom Feys MBA, MSc
On the 20th of February, BMUC again organised the post ASCO GU regional tour. During this meeting, which was simultaneously hosted at three locations throughout the country (Sint-Martens-Latem, Nijvel and Veerle), the key studies presented at this year’s ASCO GU meeting were discussed. Of note, this report will be based on the meeting held in Sint-Martens-Latem.
(BELG J MED ONCOL 2020;14(3):126–33)
Read moreBJMO - volume 14, issue 2, march 2020
D. Verhoeven MD, PhD, A. Paravati MBA, MD
The annual International Oncology Leadership Conference (IOLC) brings together physicians and administrative professionals from around the world to share best practices and to discuss future trends and challenges affecting the provision of cancer care. Following prior IOLC meetings in London and Milan, the conference in 2019 took place in Antwerp. Chairperson Prof. Didier Verhoeven and the planning committee organised an engaging agenda which was divided into three parts: economy, technology, and patient engagement/leadership. One of the main purposes of this conference is to compare US and European approaches and to learn from each other. Attendees from thirteen countries participated at the IOLC 2019. IOLC is presented by the Association of Cancer Executives and in partnership with Hauck & Associates, Inc. Some interesting points of the meeting are mentioned below.
(BELG J MED ONCOL 2020;14(2):84–5)
Read moreBJMO - volume 14, issue 1, january 2020
J. Blokken PhD, PharmD, Tom Feys MBA, MSc
On the 22nd and 23rd of November 2019, the Jules Bordet Institute and the Belgian Society of Medical Oncology (BSMO) hosted the 13th Belgian symposium on the integration of molecular biology advances into oncology clinical practice. In the course of the symposium, a fine selection of Belgian and international key opinion leaders discussed the clinical impact of molecular biology advances in a plethora of cancer types.
(BELG J MED ONCOL 2020;14(1):31–41)
Read moreBJMO - volume 13, issue 8, december 2019
J. Blokken PhD, PharmD, Tom Feys MBA, MSc, K. Punie MD
The 2019 edition of the annual ESMO meeting proved to be a grand cru when it comes to breast cancer studies. In early triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), the KEYNOTE-522 trial demonstrated a significant improvement of pathological complete response rate with the addition of pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, irrespective of PD-L1 status. In addition to this, the prognostic value of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes was confirmed in a pooled analysis of patients with TNBC who did not received adjuvant chemotherapy. In the field of metastatic breast cancer, much attention went to overall survival data that were presented for the CDK4/6-inhibitors ribociclib and abemaciclib in combination with fulvestrant (MONALEESA-3, MONARCH 2). Interesting results of the phase III BROCADE3 trial were presented in which the addition of the PARP inhibitor veliparib to carboplatin and paclitaxel was evaluated in patients with advanced HER2-negative breast cancer and a germline BRCA mutation. Regarding checkpoint inhibitors in metastatic TNBC, a read-out of a phase III trial with pembrolizumab compared to standard chemotherapy in second- and third-line was presented, as well as important translational data on different immunohistochemical PD-L1 assays from IMpassion130. Finally, two oral presentations focused on the use of CDK4/6-inhibitors in different combination regimens in metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer (MonarcHER) and in TNBC.
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