Session report: The future of finding cancer

“Without the right clinical question, even the best technology is useless,” said Prof. Konrad Stock (DE), opening a discussion on whole-body MRI (WB-MRI) as a screening tool in healthy individuals. Read this report featuring lectures by Profs. Grant Stewart (GB), Laurence Klotz (CA), and Giuseppe Petralia (IT) on the future directions in early cancer detection.

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Webcasts of the day

Watch the introduction of the patient case here by A. Van Der Heijden, Nijmegen (NL).

Imaging Plenary Session 3
Rapid case debate: Cystectomy without TURBT
Yes, we can
J. D. Kelly (GB)

Imaging Plenary Session 3
Rapid case debate: Cystectomy without TURBT
No, it’s madness
M. Rouprêt, Paris (FR)

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Session report: SPARC, APCCC, and a new RCC tracer

What are the conclusions of the Standardised PSMA PET Reporting Concensus (SPARC)? Are there disparities in the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) diagnostics? What is the latest tracer in the diagnosis of kidney cancer? Led by the Chair of the EAU Section of Urological Imaging, Prof. Francesco Sanguedolce (ES), together with nuclear medicine physician, Prof. Karolien Goffin (BE), the “Joint Session of the EAU Section of Urological Imaging and European Association of Nuclear Medicine” provided insights into these questions.

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Photos and Imaging Abstract Award Winners

Check out our photo albums of Day 1 of EMUC25 and Abstract Award winners on Facebook. Share your photos and stories on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X as well.

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Best imaging abstracts

LBO01: Impact of Initial PSMA-PET/CT Staging and PSMA-Targeted Biopsies on Treatment Decisions in Prostate Cancer: Results from the Phase II DEPROMP Trial
P. Krausewitz, Bonn (DE)

O08: The RING study: A European registry of next-generation imaging in advanced prostate cancer – protocol and preliminary findings
D. Chernysheva, Tashkent (UZ)

O12: A retrospective study of the diagnostic performance of CT urography vs. ureterorenoscopy in the follow-up setting of kidney-sparing surgery for upper tract urothelial carcinoma
O. Figaroa, Amsterdam (NL)

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EMUC25 Resource Centre

Missed a session? All webcasts, videos, posters and full-text abstracts EMUC25 are available via the Resource Centre.

For participants, viewing EMUC25 webcasts will also earn you CME accreditation. Webcasts are accredited up until Monday, 17 November 2025 (13:00 CET).

The post Highlights from Day 1 at EMUC25 appeared first on EMUC25.

Pathology
Prof. Colecchia’s first take-home message came from the EMUC Symposium on Genitourinary Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics (ESUP) on the very first day of EMUC21, specifically from Dr. Gladell Paner’s (US) presentation. In this presentation, Dr. Paner gave updates on the new WHO classification of renal tumours. “The new WHO renal tumour classification has included morphologically-defined and molecularly-defined entities,” Prof. Colecchia said.

Later, Prof. Colecchia referred to Prof. Paolo Gontero’s (IT) presentation in Plenary Session 3 for his pathologic takeaways regarding non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC): “Promising urinary markers for surveillance challenge urine cytology and will likely replace it in clinical practice. No prognostic marker can currently be recommended in clinical practice. Molecular classifications are promising but are not yet ready for routine application.”

Having included the conclusions from Prof. Lars Dyrskjøt’s (DK) presentation on the use of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) biomarkers in high-risk and metastatic bladder cancer, Prof. Colecchia ended his summary with his vision for the future: “I have great expectations for the coming years. In particular, the molecular characterisation of uro-metastatic patients and the use of liquid biopsy in the routinary management of these patients will be the gold standard. Other useful tools that will become more prevalent are artificial intelligence and digital pathology.”

Radiation oncology
Prof. Pinkawa gave the conclusions on radiation oncology. “There is a lack of data on the treatment outcome of the use of PSMA PET in prostate cancer patients. It has clinical importance, which will be further defined in studies over the next years.” He cited Dr. Stefano Fanti’s (IT) lecture, who had said in Plenary Session 1: “The 2022 EAU Guidelines on Prostate Cancer will recommend using PSMA PET or a whole-body MRI in high-risk patients to increase the sensitivity. The guidelines will emphasise the very important limit of the lack of outcome data on subsequent treatment changes.”

About radio-immunotherapy for bladder preservation, Prof. Pinkawa said, “There are studies taking place on bladder preservation with the combination of radiotherapy and immunotherapy. Specifically in the UK, bladder preservation using radiotherapy is considered as a standard method that is more frequently used than a cystectomy, especially now in these times of COVID. But currently we don’t have convincing data considering this combination. We have some data that showed increasing toxicity that is not tolerable, and we don’t have convincing results yet that really show an improved disease-specific survival.”

Urology
European Urological Scholarship Programme (EUSP) Chair Prof. Merseburger offered the key messages of lectures intended especially for urologists. These included trial updates of “Extended vs limited Pelvic Lymph node dissection in prostate cancer” which was presented  by Dr. Jean Lestingi (BR). “In a subgroup analysis, intermediate- and high-risk patients in particular, benefitted from extended lymph node dissection (EPLND). EPLND remains the gold standard for lymph node staging. Its oncological role still needs to be defined,” stated Prof. Merseburger.

He reiterated one of the key points of the Trial of Imaging and Surveillance in Seminoma Testis (TRISST) presented by oncologist Dr. Stefanie Fischer (CH) during a multidisciplinary case discussion on active surveillance: MRI is non-inferior to computer tomography, avoids irradiation, and should be recommended.

Radiology
Radiologist Prof. Oyen discussed some of lectures centred on radiology such as “The new mpMRI: Biparametric MRI: fast and accurate” by radiologist Dr. Giorgio Brembilla (IT) in Plenary Session 1: The MRI Corner: Faster and cheaper. Prof. Oyen underscored the take-home message that biparametric MRI (bpMRI) lacks dynamic contrast enhanced sequence (DCE-MRI) and may lead to greater uncertainty in lesion detection and scoring.

Oncology
The last presentation of EMUC21 came from Prof. Oldenburg, who took to the stage and provided conclusions from oncology-centric presentations. He stated PSMA PET findings are predictive for decreased biochemical recurrence (BCR) and treatment-free survival. This is one key messages from the debate “Should PSMA PET impact on treatment in newly diagnosed PCa (debate yes vs no)?” wherein Prof. Tobias Maurer (DE) represented “Yes”.

All take-home messages can be found in the EMUC21 Resource Centre. EMUC21 delegates can access all presentations, full-text abstracts, and (e-)posters here.

The 14th European Multidisciplinary Congress on Urological Cancers (EMUC22) will take place from 10 to 13 November 2022 in Budapest, Hungary. We look forward to seeing you there!

The post Recap of EMUC21: The take-home messages appeared first on EMUC25.

“It is up to well-designed prospective studies to determine their exact indication and place in the landscape in the treatment of metastatic uro-oncology patients. But established therapies and treatment regimens also need to be re-evaluated, for instance the duration of androgen deprivation in primary radiotherapy for localised high-risk prostate cancer.”

Dr. Maurer is co-chairing the ‘New Trials Update’ session at EMUC19, the 11^th European Multidisciplinary Congress on Urological Cancers. This session will give participants an update on upcoming and currently running trials in onco-urology. Maurer: “The presented studies and data all serve to guide the practising urooncologist in their treatment decisions.”

EMUC19 is a collaboration between the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the European SocieTy for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) and the European Association of Urology (EAU). Other chairs of the session are radiation oncologist Dr. Carl Salembier (Brussels, BE) and medical oncologist Prof. Aristotelis Bamias (Athens, GR).

Dr. Maurer currently serves on the Faculty of the Martini-Klinik Prostate Cancer Center at the University of Hamburg-Eppendorf, having joined in July 2018. Previously he was the Senior Attending Physician and Vice Chair at the Department of Urology of the Technical University of Munich. His current main focus is staging, surgical and medical treatment of prostate cancer.

EMUC19 will take place in Vienna (AT) on 14-17 November, also featuring the 8^th Section Meeting of the EAU Section of Urological Imaging, courses by the European School of Urology and many more optional sessions and meetings. The annual EMUC congress is unique in its multidisciplinary approach to urological cancers, featuring speakers from a huge variety of oncology-related disciplines in an attractive and focused scientific programme.

Anticipating results

The New Trials session on Saturday morning (Plenary Session 7) will cover new and ongoing trials like SPCG4, ARAMIS and KEYNOTE 057. Each trial will be presented by a specialist from one discipline and then discussed with another specialist, highlighting the multidisciplinary approach that is favoured for onco-urological conditions.

Results of these trials are hotly anticipated by oncologists and urologists alike, according to Dr. Maurer:

“Although some of the presented studies have recently been presented at other meetings or published in full, updated data will be presented at EMUC19. In this respect, medical oncologists, but also radiation oncologists and urologists who treat onco-urology patients should clearly take the chance to attend this careful selected session to confirm and update their knowledge.”

“For example, in mRCC patients, the longer life expectancy makes sequential therapy likely. In this case the first-line treatment already strongly influences and guides sequential therapy, due to several approved classes of agents in metastatic renal cell cancer. Thus, several considerations have to be taken into account when choosing the initial therapy regime. The introduction of immunotherapy opened a whole new field of therapeutics especially in bladder cancer. For instance, Pembrolizumab could add a new potent option in BCG-refractory non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.”

One example of a trial that will have an impact on daily treatment is the ARAMIS trial. Maurer: “It not only showed significantly increased metastasis-free survival with darolutamide compared to placebo in non-metastatic CRPC patients, but also significant advantages for overall survival, time to pain progression and time to symptomatic skeletal events. These are all relevant endpoints for men suffering from nmCPRC. At the same time an increase in incidence for adverse events was not observed.”

“These findings will likely soon impact daily treatment in this specific patient cohort. But, as mentioned above, the other presented studies also have guideline-changing potential.”

Emerging treatment options

Trials have a huge potential for changing guidelines and treatment options, according to Dr. Maurer: “These days medical oncologists, urologists and radiation oncologists face an increasing number of therapeutic possibilities for systemic treatment of prostate, bladder and renal cell cancer.”

“The trials presented at EMUC19 add significantly to our knowledge and will influence our insights on these diseases – which treatment sequence should be chosen in each individual patient or even if treatment is necessary at all and watchful waiting might be the best option. However, surely we can expect further advancements on our way to personalised and individualised cancer treatment in the future.”

As the EMUC congress represents the medical world’s commitment to multidisciplinary approach, onco-urological trials also reflect the cooperation of the involved disciplines.

“Within the last years we can observe an ever-increasing cooperation between the different medical disciplines in daily practice within interdisciplinary and even molecular tumour boards. Due to the increasing complexity of multimodal treatment regimens this is on the other hand a prerequisite for successful modern onco-urology.”

Dr. Maurer feels that the EMUC congress sets a great example: “It has been a great success since its introduction as a platform for mutual exchange between medical oncologists, urologists, radiation experts as well as (not to forget!) imaging specialists. The ESUI’s annual meeting has recently become a valuable ‘pre-congress’ to EMUC. As specialists, I think that we can all agree that multidisciplinary management of onco-urological patients is integral to our success!

The post Trial presentations to have “Guideline-changing potential” appeared first on EMUC25.

The 11th European Multidisciplinary Congress on Urological Cancers (EMUC19)  is coming to Vienna on November 14-17. The meeting is co-organised by the European Association of Urology (EAU), the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and European SocieTy for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO). Also on November 14th, the EAU Section of Urological Imaging is holding its 8th meeting, ESUI19. Abstract submission for EMUC19 is currently open, until July 1st.

The organizing parties have appointed representatives from their ‘young professionals’ wings to sit on the EMUC19 scientific committee to ensure that the scientific programme reflects their interests and professional requirements. We spoke to each representative about their role and their views on the important topics.

A voice for young professionals

Dr. Evanguelos Xylinas (Paris, FR) is Associate Professor of Urology at Bichat Claude Bernard Hospital. He represents the EAU’s Young Academic Urologists (YAU) on the EMUC19 scientific committee. Dr. Xylinas describes his role as proposing speakers and topics to be covered on behalf of YAU.

Jean-Emmanuel Bibault (Stanford, CA, USA) is a radiation oncology Associate Professor from Paris currently doing a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence for Medicine and Biomedical Physics, at Stanford University School of Medicine: “I’m involved in EMUC19 as a member of ESTRO’s Young Committee. I help design the programme of the annual meeting, particularly on the sessions where radiation oncology is relevant.”

Dr. Christoph Oing is on the EMUC19 Scientific Committee as a member of the ESMO’s Young Oncologist Committee (YOC). He is specialised in Internal Medicine, Haematology and Medical Oncology. He is a clinical fellow at the Dept of Oncology, Haematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation with Division of Pneumology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (DE), among several other affiliations.

“I have been invited to participate in the EMUC19 scientific programme committee as ESMO Young Oncologists Committee (YOC) representative to establish involvement and address interests of young Medical Oncology professionals in the upcoming EMUC conferences. As such, the YOC contributes to scientific abstract reviewing with 5 supporters and I have been invited to actively participate in the programme including a case presentation on testicular cancer and a discussion on localised prostate cancer.”

Important Topics

Asked about which topics are of particular interest to young onco-urology professionals, Xylinas (YAU) points to state-of-the-art lectures. “We like these for giving an overview of the current evidence on a topic. Sessions that address the current guidelines are popular, as are clinical cases discussion by key opinion leaders.”

Bibault (ESTRO YC) considers the topics that will define the standard of care and best practice for young professionals in radiation oncology in prostate cancer and bladder cancer the most important. “When should you consider radiotherapy, what volumes, what dosage? How does radiation therapy can be combined and coordinated with surgery and systemic treatments?” These and more will be part of the three-day scientific programme.

“Both well-structured introductions to current standards and discussion of areas with lacking evidence or practice-changing, up-to-date developments are highly relevant for young professionals to increase their knowledge and confidence in GU cancer care,” says Oing (ESMO YOC).

“Rare cancers, i.e. testicular and penile cancer, will are also important to address, as individual experience with such cancers may be scarce. In addition, case discussions are of particular importance to provide practical advice and illustrate the beneficial impact of multidisciplinary GU cancer care.”

Multidisciplinary reality

Oing also sees a tendency in genitourinary oncology: “It is rapidly evolving irrespective of the subspecialty involved in GU cancer care. The multidisciplinary approach of EMUC, with its multifaceted expert scientific committee and conference structure is outstanding and a key to success in sharing knowledge on current standards and future developments for both the attendees and faculty.”

Bibault concurs: “Multidisciplinarity is essential in uro-oncology if we want to give the best possible treatment to our patients. We absolutely need to work, discuss each case with our friends and colleagues from surgery and medical oncology. Comprehensive cancer centers are essential in that setting.”

Xylinas: “I think oncology and onco-urology in particular equals multidisciplinarity. The aim is to provide, all together, the best care for our patients.”

EMUC19 has a comprehensive scientific programme featuring expert speakers from all onco-urology-related fields. The ESUI meeting, as well as ESU courses and the ESUP Symposium are all optional elements of the programme on November 14th. Discounted registration fees are available for EAU, ESMO and ESTRO members, as well as residents.

The post Keeping EMUC19 relevant for young onco-urology specialists appeared first on EMUC25.

First held in 2007 as a biennial meeting, EMUC has successfully bridged the interests of experts in onco-urological diseases. Organised as an annual MDT event since 2012, EMUC is now known for providing an effective knowledge and skills-sharing platform to medical oncologists, urologists, radiation oncologists, and pathologists, among other key cancer specialists.

EMUC is led by three of Europe’s frontline professional associations: the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the European Association of Urology (EAU), and the European SocieTy for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO). Ranging from updates on new research and clinical developments to identifying best practices, the annual congress critically examines key issues in urological cancers.

Renowned US pathologist Prof. Jonathan Epstein will return to EMUC this year, which will be held for the first time in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from 8 to 11 November. As Director of Surgical Pathology Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Epstein is an opinion leader in his field and is known for his body of work on precursors of prostate cancer.

Epstein will deliver a lecture on 10 November, during the session ”New developments in prostate cancer evaluation.” His lecture titled “Everything in prostate cancer pathology you were afraid to ask” is anticipated not only to provide updates in innovative pathology work but to also offer new insights to clinicians.

“My lecture will provide the forum for attendees to answer some of the more confusing and clinically important issues relating to prostate pathology,” said Epstein. Pathology experts say urological tumours are becoming more precisely classified based on a combination of morphology, immunohistochemistry, and molecular findings. With new developments, treatment regimens can, therefore, be tailored more accurately to the specific subtype of the tumour, according to Epstein.

Asked to comment on inter-disciplinary events such as the EMUC, Epstein underlined the benefits to be gained through closer MDT collaboration. “The importance of MDT from the participating pathologists’ standpoint is that the meeting provides an opportunity to inform clinicians about critical and often confusing issues relating to pathology that directly impact patient care,” he said.

Epstein is not only a medical scientist but also an educator and he underscored the central role of sharing expert knowledge. “An MDT event like the EMUC gives clinicians access or a platform to ask from the top experts in the field questions related to pathology, which helps them better understand their pathology reports and better manage their patients,” he said, while adding that two-way dialogue among experts can only boost the cancer care community’s goals for optimal care.

Experts believe current collaboration among onco-urology has improved with more educational activities being held and funded by professional organisations.

The four-day EMUC will be preceded by the 7th Meeting of the EAU Section of Urological Imaging (ESUI18), the EMUC Symposium on Genitourinary Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics (ESUP), and the EAU-ESMO Bladder Cancer Consensus meeting.  Organised with main congress is the EAU Prostate Cancer Consensus meeting on Active Surveillance (EPCCAS) to be held on Friday. The European School of Urology (ESU) will offer Hands-on Training and specialised courses.

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“In view of increasing costs for systemic treatment (also in prostate cancer), including individualized diagnostics like PSMA PET/CT and newly developed radionuclide tracers, the debate on how to deliver this kind of high-level care to every patient throughout Europe has started,” said Prof. Dr. Peter Albers, Chairman of the Department of Urology at Düsseldorf University Hospital (DE).

Albers is one of the speakers in the four-day 10th European Multidisciplinary Congress on Urological Cancers (EMUC18) to be held in Amsterdam from 8 to 11 November. He will give an update on the EAU Prostate Cancer Centre Consensus Meeting, a multidisciplinary initiative that aims to consolidate expert opinion on a range of PCa issues.

“It is very hard to really define “good care.” We tried to agree on important topics that include quality of care,  diagnosis and treatment of patients with prostate cancer. The paper that will be published summarises the necessary prerequisites that are realistic throughout Europe in spite of very different healthcare settings,” he explained.

According to Albers, a minimum number of patients treated with prostate cancer at all stages and a minimum number of personnel and infrastructure was agreed on and will now be conveyed and discussed with healthcare politicians in Europe. The consensus is aimed to prompt a more efficient delivery of quality care to PCa patients, enabling physicians and healthcare workers to be guided by evidence-based recommendations and to access information on best clinical practices.

Running into barriers

But the challenge of delivering quality care to PCa patients is not as simple as it sounds due to financial constraints and the lack of uniformity in Europe when it comes to health infrastructure and clinical practices.

Albers said that although the discussion on specialized centres for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer may be one way to introduce personalized healthcare to PCa patients, the opportunity may remain elusive particularly in less developed countries struggling with meagre resources.

“In many places, high-class care has already been realized. Let’s take the German Comprehensive Cancer Centres (CCC) of Excellence, or some really large cancer centres in the UK, Italy or France as examples. However, the costs of these MDT practising centres are enormous,” Albers noted. “We have analysed for Germany that a CCC has running costs per year of more than 10 million euros just for personnel and logistics. In some cases, this burns down to quality issues; for example, the tumour boards need to be organised with experts and specialists and not with rather inexperienced doctors.”

He underscored that it is crucial that the initial decision who to treat is consented by a group of experts and not novice physicians.

“This (process) however is very costly. In addition, I would require nursing staff to be present at those boards and at least one doctor should know the patient in person. The pure documentation of the current healthcare status is not perfect and a treatment decision, for example, pro or con surgery like cystectomy, has to be based on a very personal and detailed assessment of the individual patient. In reality, this is hard to accomplish and we need personnel and resources at this crucial step,” explained Albers.

New developments

On the other hand, there are some areas for optimism such as new developments in treatment approaches and diagnostics.

“Patients with metastatic prostate cancer have experienced a tremendous survival advantage over the last 10 years. For many of these patients, prostate cancer has become, so to speak, a chronic disease. We need to improve on these developments and this is only possible by further breaking down the treatment to subgroups of patients, for example, those with DNA repair defects,” he said.

“In addition, palliative care of patients is still not always perfect and as urologists, we have the obligation to also deliver state-of-the-art palliative care for these patients. Things have improved but are not perfect yet,” he added.

Interdisciplinary care

A congress like EMUC, according to Albers, can do a lot to help improve multidisciplinary approaches in diseases as complex as prostate cancer.

“True interdisciplinary oncological care is time-consuming, expensive and is not standard in all uro-oncological departments throughout Europe. A meeting like EMUC certainly will stress the importance of high-level oncological care. Cancer specialists are not only physicians but also healthcare workers, oncological nurses and other caregivers. All this needs to be discussed on an international congress like EMUC. This certainly will improve oncological care in urology throughout Europe,” he said.

There are also outstanding issues that require a collective assessment.

“Large databases and analysis with the help of registries are necessary to sort out special groups that demand more research like CRPC with bone metastases. Also in earlier stages of the disease, major clinical questions are not sufficiently answered such as the extent of lymph node dissection in intermediate-risk PCa patients. Only collaborative research with well-documented patients may help to improve on this situation,” Albers said.

Want to know more about EMUC18? Explore this meeting website (www.emuc18.org) for details on the Scientific Programme, educational activities, and registration fees.

The post EMUC18: Costs and optimal PCa care- Finding the crucial balance appeared first on EMUC25.

“Recently, several robust biomarkers on different molecular levels have been identified which are significantly associated with metastatic risk. These markers, mainly signatures or combination of markers, can be defined in primary tumors to predict the risk of metastasis based on the individual biological background,” said Prof. Dr. Kerstin Junker of the Clinic of Urology and Pediatric Urology at Saarland University Homburg/Saar (DE).

Junker, also the current chair of the EAU Section of Urological Research (ESUR), will speak on the issue of potential biomarkers for decision-making at the 9th European Multidisciplinary Meeting on Urological Cancers (EMUC17) to be held in Barcelona from November 16 to 19. EMUC is annually organised by three of Europe’s leading and specialised medical associations- the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the European SocieTy for Radiotherapy & Oncology (ESTRO) and the European Association of Urology (EAU).

Renal cell carcinomas (RCC) account for more than 90% of renal tumours. RCC are subdivided into histologically defined subtypes, and the most common subtypes are clear cell RCC (70-75%), papillary RCC (10-15%), chromophobe RCC (5%) and the benign oncocytomas. Junker said genetic analyses have confirmed that these subtypes are characterized by different chromosomal alterations which suggest that each subtype represents a distinct tumour entity with different tumour biology.

Junker said these have implications for daily clinical routine since it has been shown by many clinical researches that the treatment and survival prospects of patients with renal cell tumours depend on the subtype. Patients with clear cell RCC have the worst prognosis compared to other RCC subtypes based on the high frequency of distant metastases.

“Biomarkers will improve the possibility to define the prognosis on a more individual level. But we have to validate these highly potential markers in clinical trials as we are doing it for new therapeutics,” explained Junker.

To identify the most efficient strategy, Junker said doctors have to consider the histological subtype.  “Today, we have more than 15 subtypes which are clearly associated with a specific genetic background on one hand and with different prognosis on the other hand. In addition, based on a specific molecular background, systemic and especially targeted therapies should be selected considering the subtype,” she added.

Asked if she anticipates key breakthroughs in the field of RCC therapy, Junker said:

“I am convinced that we will see a breakthrough progress in the next few years. The understanding of cellular and molecular processes involved in tumour development and especially in tumour progression and metastasis in general, but also in each tumour and tumour subtype will increase the therapeutic options.”

She noted that specialists should understand and consider the inter-tumour heterogeneity as an essential step to individualize therapy based on biomarkers and to identify new targets.  “In addition, we learned that not only tumour cells but also the tumour microenvironment (or tumour stroma) including fibroblasts, endothelial cells and immune cells are important players in tumorigenesis and should be used for biomarker discovery and therapy targets,” said Junker.

Adding depth to MDT

With regards multidisciplinary team (MDT) approaches, Junker noted that specialists from different fields are playing a crucial role in optimal patient care.

“Besides the interdisciplinary approach that includes different medical disciplines, molecular pathology and molecular biology should be more involved in multidisciplinary decision-making. Several university hospitals established interdisciplinary molecular tumour boards, which is one of the steps in this direction,” she said.

EMUC, as a scientific and educational platform for European urological cancer specialists, can achieve much more in boosting knowledge and professional exchanges. Nearing its first decade of active networking, the event helps create a more responsive community of cancer experts. “Such meetings are beneficial because they present an interdisciplinary view on specific urological tumour diseases including not only standard therapy recommendations but also modern knowledge about future directions,” Junker said.

Regarding her expectations on kidney cancer therapies, Junker reiterated her optimism. “I expect that we will use biomarkers routinely to sub-classify tumors and to select the best therapeutic option. This will improve the so called “personalized medicine,” not only to select the most effective therapy, but also to decide if an invasive therapy is necessary at all.”

The three-day EMUC17 presents a compact Scientific Programme that will cover a range of key issues in prostate, kidney and bladders cancers. EMUC will be preceded on 16 November with the EMUC Symposium on Genitourinary Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics (ESUP), the 6th Meeting of the EAU Section of Urological Imaging (ESUI17) and European School of Urology (ESU) Courses. Besides courses and Hands-on Training sessions, ESTRO is organising a delineation contouring workshop with the topic “Target volume contouring in bladder cancer.” A Uropathology Training Workshop will also be held for participants to gain practical insights on uropathology procedures.

For additional details, check the Scientific Programme, Registration and other meeting information pages in this website.

This article was first published on uroweb.

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