Munich Hosts ESMO Symposium On Testicular Cancer
May 16th, 2008 | by admin |
The latest information on the biology and treatment of testicular cancer, the most common cancer among young men, will be presented at the Symposium on Testicular Cancer organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), to be held on 15-16 May in Munich, Germany.
“Testicular cancer is the most common tumor in men between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five and has seen the strongest increase in incidence among all cancer types over the last 20 years,” said the Symposium’s Scientific Chair Prof. Hans-Joachim Schmoll, Director of the Department of Internal Medicine for oncology and hematology at the Martin Luther University Halle and former president of the German association for medical oncology (AIO).
Currently, testicular cancer affects one in every 100 men per year in Europe. The causes of the dramatic rise in incidence remain unclear.
The cure rate for testicular cancer has increased dramatically in recent years, thanks to improvements in chemotherapy. As a result, the treatment strategies in virtually all stages of the disease have changed, away from aggressive surgical or radiation treatment to surveillance without treatment or minimal treatment for most patients in early stages and only limited chemotherapy in advanced stages.
“All these changes in treatment approach mean patients need highly informed and experienced doctors, both to give them the best advice on selecting optimal treatment and then to implement with expertise the adopted course,” Prof. Schmoll continued.
The ESMO Symposium on Testicular Cancer will present cutting-edge information on the molecular background of testicular cancer. Sessions will focus on explaining the sensitivity of this tumor to chemotherapy, on prognostic factors and on practical decision-making options for individual patients. In particular, treatment options will be discussed against the background of the European Consensus Guidelines.
After the public meeting, the Symposium Faculty will convene for the ESMO International Consensus meeting on Testicular Tumors, to both elaborate several important topics in the field and to update the ESMO Clinical Recommendations (CR) on Testicular seminoma.
Highlights of the meeting include sessions on the biology of germ cell tumors, with presentations by J. Wolter Oosterhuis from the Netherlands and Ewa Rajpert-De Meyts from Denmark. Darren Feldman from the US will also present brand new data on why germ cell tumors are so platinum sensitive and some resistant.
Meeting venue
The ESMO Symposium on Testicular Cancer will take place in Munich, Germany from 15-16 May 2008. The meeting venue is the Hilton Munich City Hotel (Rosenheimer Strasse 15, DE-81667 Munich), easily reachable from Munich airport by direct train link. The city center is just a 10-minute walk away.
Services for media representatives
Journalists will have the possibility to schedule one-on-one interviews with speakers, both in presence and remotely. Please contact the ESMO Communication Dept. at media@esmo.org to book a telephone interview or to attend the meeting.
The conference full program is available here.
About the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO)
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) is the leading European non-profit, professional organization for medical oncology promoting multidisciplinary cancer treatment around the world.
ESMO unites medical oncologists and other oncology specialists, healthcare professionals, caregivers, patients, policy-makers and all the key stakeholders in a global alliance committed to eradicating cancer and ensuring equal access to high quality treatment for all patients. Through state-of-the-art education and training programs, ESMO plays an instrumental role in providing the oncology community with the most up-to-date scientific research and information available. ESMO is dedicated to educating and supporting oncologists, optimizing patient care, disseminating cancer-specific information to the public, and advocating patient rights. As an authoritative voice in the fight against cancer, ESMO provides both the platform and the consultative expertise to influence national and international organizations as well as European authorities, in order to establish common standards for a multidisciplinary approach to cancer treatment. Through its flagship journal, Annals of Oncology, ESMO publishes articles on all aspects of clinical oncology.
http://www.esmo.org
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