CONGRESS NEWS

A new treatment paradigm in metastatic bladder cancer: chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibition in 2018

The positive outcome of several randomized clinical trials evaluating immune checkpoint inhibitors in patients with metastatic bladder cancer dramatically changed the treatment paradigm in this setting. In his presentation, Prof. de Wit summarized the clinical data generated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in this setting, but he kicked off by summarizing the historical results obtained with chemotherapy in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer.

Biomarkers in the era of immunotherapy: lessons learned from lung, bladder and kidney cancer

Immune checkpoint inhibition has rapidly changed the treatment paradigm of several cancer types, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), melanoma, urothelial cancer and renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Lots of research is currently focused on the search for biomarkers that can predict whether a patients will respond to immunotherapy or not. During his lecture at BMUC 2018, Dr. Mark Kockx, pathologist and founder of HistoGeneX shared his views on this matter.

What do we still need to know about the treatment of RCC?

The introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors dramatically changed the treatment paradigm of patients with advanced RCC. In her lecture, Dr. Laurence Albiges gave an overview of real-life data with nivolumab and gave her insights on how the first-line treatment landscape of patients with advanced RCC will evolve in the years to come.

The continuously evolving treatment landscape in renal cell carcinoma

As a result of intensive fundamental and clinical research the treatment of localized and advanced renal cell carcinoma is constantly changing and improving. At the 2018 annual BMUC meeting, Prof. Viktor Grünwald gave an overview of the recent findings in clinical research and of the approaches that are expected to change the management of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the future.

Highlights of Scientific Summits Meeting

Summary

Since last year a board of respectively three urologists and one radiation oncologist created the ‘Scientific Summits’. This is a scientifically independent Belgian congress for urologists, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists and radiologists with special interest in urology and more specifically in urologic oncology. The aim of Scientific Summits is providing up-to-date scientific information based on the highlights of the most recent international congresses. The 4^th edition took place in the charming city of Durbuy, Belgium.

The first day of the meeting focussed on the treatment and prevention of side effects of various anticancer treatments in urologic oncology. Experts in the field shared practical tips and tricks, based on interactive case discussions. They illustrated difficult situations and how to deal with them. On the second day of the meeting, interactive state-of-the-art lectures provided us with up-to-date information on how to evaluate and manage advanced and recurrent prostate cancer.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2018;12(2):82–85)

Precision medicine in breast cancer: current practice and perspectives

Just to set the scene: precision, or personalized medicine, is an approach to patient care that allows physicians to select treatments that are most likely to help their patients based on a genomic characterization of the disease, the environment and the way of life of the patient.

Hereditary breast cancer beyond BRCA: how to deal with it in routine clinical practice?