A. Enguita PhD

Highlights from ASCO GU 2024

SUMMARY

From January 25^th until the 27^th of January, San Francisco once again formed the background for the yearly high mass in urological cancer. During the 2024 ASCO Genitourinary cancers symposium, the latest clinical and scientific advances in the management of urothelial, prostate, and renal cell cancer were presented. This report will provide a brief overview of the key presentation at this years’ meeting.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2024;18(3):109–14)

Bladder cancer – how to optimise shared decision-making

During the bladder cancer session at BMUC 2024; Prof. Ananya Choudhury (The University of Manchester, Manchester) underscored the necessity of reevaluating radiotherapy as a treatment for localised non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), underscoring its efficacy and safety also in elderly patients. Prof. Evanguelos Xylinas (Hôpital Bichat-Claude Bernard – APHP Nord, Paris) focused on emerging therapies for high-risk NMIBC patients unresponsive to Bacillus Calmette-Guérin treatment, such as intravesical gene therapy or immunotherapy. Finally, Prof. Sylvie Rottey (University Hospital Ghent, Ghent) discussed the pivotal Check-Mate-901 and EV-302 trials, which have transformed the first-line treatment of metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

Supportive care and setting up a trial

During the session entitled “Supportive care and setting up a trial” at BMUC 2024, Prof. Nele Devoogdt (UZ Leuven, Belgium) discussed current strategies to manage lymphoedema following pelvic therapies in cancer patients. Subsequently, Dr. Alastair Lamb (Oxford University, UK) talked about the factors that make clinical trial enrolment appealing to patients. Finally, Dr. Sanne D’hondt walked us through the necessary steps to set up a clinical trial.

Optimising the treatment for patients with recurrent prostate cancer

During the 2024 BMUC meeting, an entire session was dedicated to the management of patients with recurrent prostate cancer. In this session, Dr. Alastair Lamb (University of Oxford, UK) highlighted the concept and assessment of biochemical relapse (BCR) post-prostatectomy, stressing the importance of risk stratification. Subsequently, Prof. Bertrand Tombal (Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc, Belgium) discussed strategies to optimise the systemic therapy for patients at both low and high risk after which Prof. Piet Ost (Ghent University, Belgium) discussed the integration of metastasis-directed therapy with systemic approaches in patients with metachronous metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer.

Updates in the management of renal cell Carcinoma

The opening session of the 2024 Belgian Multidisciplinary Meeting on Urological Cancers (BMUC) highlighted key advancements in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) management. Prof. Christine Gennigens (ULiège, Liège, Belgium) presented current and future strategies for first-line metastatic RCC treatment, emphasising options such as immunotherapy (IO) dual combinations, IO plus tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) regimens, TKI monotherapy, and triplet therapies. Additionally, Prof. Shankar Siva (Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia) discussed the promising outcomes of stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) in primary RCC, underscoring its advantages over traditional approaches like surgery or thermal ablation.

Clinical cancer therapy in 2023: What you should not have missed

During the ‘What you should not have missed’ session at this year’s BSMO meeting, Prof. Dr. Awada from the Jules Bordet Institute revisited key treatment advances and clinical updates in oncology from 2023.

Update in gynaecological cancers

During the 2024 BSMO annual meeting, an entire session was dedicated to the recent advances in the treatment of gynaecological cancers. In a first lecture of this session, Prof. Dr. Christine Gennigens (CHU de Liège) gave an overview of the contemporary treatment landscape for patients with cervical cancer, after which Prof. Dr. Hannelore Denys (University Hospital Ghent), summarised the recent treatment advances and clinical updates in the treatment of endometrial cancer. To wrap up the session, Prof. Jean-François Baurain (UCLouvain) took the stage to provide an overview of the latest findings in the management of ovarian cancer.