8th SCIENTIFIC VIRTUAL MEETING with international participation PROSTATE TUMORS

The Committee for tumors of the Department of Medical Sciences, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Department of Oncology and Nuclear Medicine, Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital Center together with University Hospital Center Zagreb jointly organized the 8^th Virtual Prostate cancer scientific meeting. The meeting was held on November 25, 2021, in virtual format due to conditions of global COVID19 epidemics.

Welcoming speeches were held by academician Vida Demarin, Secretary of the Department of Medical Sciences, academician Zvonko Kusić. The whole meeting was moderated by Professor Ana Fröbe, Head of the Department of Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital Center.

The meeting was opened by talk of Mario Šekerija, head of Croatian national cancer registry, who presented key epidemiology fact on prostate cancer in Croatia. Prostate cancer has increasing incidence, but mortality is slowly dropping what might be reflection of the earlier diagnosis or partly due to improved treatment.

Igor Tomašković elegantly covered important aspects of MRI in prostate cancer diagnosis, an area of active research. MRI became indispensable tool in accurate local staging of prostate cancer and its role is expected to further expand in the future, highlighting the need to improve access to this imaging modality and standardize technical protocols. Important lecture had Dinko Franceschi, expert in nuclear medicine from United States, who presented the state-of-the-art of nuclear medicine imaging for prostate cancer. PSMA-avid ligands became the standard for PET/CT imaging while simultaneously opened new avenues for radionuclide targeted treatment, considered to be one of the major breakthroughs in treatment of advanced prostate cancer over last few years.

Molecular biologist Ivan Šamija covered novelty in prostate cancer genomics, very active area with many important developments. Genomics panels are increasingly utilized both in localized and advanced disease revealing underlying biology of disease which cannot be captured by clinical tools. The incorporation of genomics tests into treatment decisions is yet to happen as major prospective trials are in progress and they will define its definitive role.

Urologist Tomislav Kuliš, presented 2-year experience of robotic-assisted prostatectomies on Senhance platform at University Hospital Center Zagreb. In this time frame, their team performed more than 150 prostatectomies using this technology which allowed significantly less trauma for patients and faster recovery compared to open surgery while offering many benefits for the surgeon. Melvin Chua from National Cancer Centre in Singapore dwelt on modern radiotherapy techniques for prostate cancers which were developed based on finding that prostate cancer favors larger doses of radiation compared to other solid tumors. Prostate cancer radiotherapy radically changed over the last decade, incorporating fewer radiotherapy fractions, dose escalation, tumor boosting, with the goal of personalization of treatment volumes based on the findings of metabolic-functional imaging.  Pierfrancesco Franco, gave overview of MRI-targeted radiotherapy for prostate cancer. This technology really represents paradigm change in radiotherapy as MRI allows accurate tumor and surrounding organs visualization. This may result in improved precision of radiotherapy, allowing for further dose escalation and sparring of normal tissues in addition to tracking biological response to therapeutic radiation.

Mladen Solarić, detailed the rationale, benefits, and current position of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in radiotherapy management of localized prostate cancer. Owing to its many advantages, SBRT is expected to be leading modality of prostate cancer radiotherapy delivery in the future.

Amit Bahl unraveled the role of novel androgen axis-directed therapies in the localized prostate cancer. Newer hormonal agents like enzalutamide, abiraterone, darolutamide, apalutamide have indeed transformed treatment of advanced disease. Several important trials addressing combination of radiotherapy and these agents in localized high-risk disease already have read out with spectacular results – progression-free survival extended to more than 6 years.  Katarina Antunac gave overview of systemic treatment options in advanced disease where we are witnessing abundance of chemotherapeutic and targeted agents which extended survival of patients with metastatic disease on multiple occasions.

Short question and answer session followed each talk allowing for interaction with virtual audience. Meeting abstracts were gathered in electronic book of abstracts. Meeting was well attended with 75 attendees who remotely participated in this virtual educational event.

PROGRAMME 8. Scientific Meeting PROSTATE TUMORS

ABSTRACTS 8. Scientific Meeting PROSTATE TUMORS