On Friday 4th and Saturday 5th of February 2022, the 24th Annual BSMO meeting took place. Despite the fact that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forced the BSMO to move this year’s edition to a hybrid event, it again of fered BSMO members and stakeholders a plat form to get together, present the best science in medical oncology and exchange new results. Once more, there was a unique programme with prestigious invited lecturers and a prof fered paper session compiled with the best abstracts from junior members. Finally, the programme was enriched with some interesting poster presentations.
A first state of the art session was given by the breast cancer task force and focussed on current treatment algorithms for advanced HER2-positive breast cancer, current and emerging treatment options in early and locoregionally advanced TNBC and TNBC heterogeneity. The second lecture addressed molecular tests in oncology. In this session, at tention was given to the BALLET study and the NGS situation in Belgium, the molecular tumour board and clinical implications of the reimbursement of drugs in lung and gastro-intestinal cancer.
During the suppor tive care task force meeting, the BSMO suppor tive care task force introduced three clinical trials they would like to set up in the near future. In addition, new BSMO guidelines on extravasation and anaemia were presented. A session on clinical cancer therapy in Belgium addressed what we should not have missed in 2021. Fur thermore, the president of the Belgian Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (BeSTRO), Prof. Dr. Liv Veldeman gave a talk on radiation oncology for the medical oncologist.
With the increasing use of immunotherapy, more and more questions rise on the management of specif ic immune-related adverse events that are associated with these agents. To address these unmet needs, the Belgian Multidisciplinary Immunotoxicity Board (BITOX) was set up. At the BSMO annual meeting, the rationale, aim and first results of this initiative were presented.
Finally, this year the Keynote Lecture was given by Prof. Jean-Pascal Machiels (Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels). During his presentation, he gave an overview of the currently available and promising treatment combinations under investigation for head and neck cancer.
We wish you a pleasant read!
