ESMO Metastases Virtual Meeting
- Start date
- 02 Jan 2012
- End date
- 01 Sep 2012
- Location
- Online, Switzerland
The ESMO Virtual Meeting on Metastases offered participants a unique online experience.
The ESMO Virtual Meeting on Metastases focused on the biology of this most lethal hallmark of cancer and the impact of tumour microenvironment on cancer metastases initiation and progression. Invited speakers provided an international expertise on the basic science and its clinical translation to practice for lymph node, hematopoietic, brain, lung, liver and bone metastases. Lectures covered traditional and new concepts in research of metastases, including ectopic homing, dormancy, early colonisation and migration. The programme also covered the biological rationale for new therapeutic strategies, drugs in development, the use of biomarkers and therapy resistance. A special part of the meeting was dedicated to the pathophysiology of bone metastases, their prevention, functional imaging, multidisciplinary management and clinical application and integration of bone-targeted treatments.
The meeting was available as a Webcast as of February 2012. ESMO members had free access on OncologyPRO, and non-members had the opportunity to register online.
Download the Meeting Programme
Much progress has been recently accomplished in the understanding, the monitoring and the treatment with bone-targeted drugs of tumour bone disease. Bone can be the source of secondary metastases and inhibitors of bone resorption can decrease the recurrence rate in the metastatic setting. Prevention trials using bone targeted treatments are now ongoing. Attending this virtual meeting will allow you to better understand the considerable progress made recently in the field of "bone and cancer" and to optimise the care of your patients."
Bone targeted treatments have transformed the care of patients with bone metastases and have an increasing role in metastasis prevention and maintenance of a healthy skeleton. Attend this virtual meeting to hear about the latest information on disease mechanisms, pharmacology and efficacy of bone targeted agents and how to optimise the multidisciplinary management of metastatic bone disease.
Metastasis has only recently gained specific scientific attention, while the traditional focus on the primary tumour, regarding its role as surrogate marker for the biology of metastasis and for therapeutic decisions, is still predominant. This can be easily observed in several experimental models as well as in current attempts to select therapy targets for systemic cancer after mutational or molecular profiling of primary tumours. The virtual meeting will therefore explore mechanisms of lymphatic and hematogenous spread as well as mechanisms involved in organ-site specific and iatrogenic selection and adaptation of metastatic tumour cells.