EAU-ICUD Consensus Meeting to open EMUC 2014

An in-depth and comprehensive overview of current state-of-the-art treatment of urological diseases will be presented during the EAU- International Consultation on Urological Diseases (ICUD) Consensus Meeting to be held in conjunction with the 6th European Multidisciplinary Meeting on Urological Cancers (EMUC) in Lisbon, Portugal.“The EAU-ICUD Consensus Meeting in Portugal will allow for both an overview and in-depth assessment of state-of-the-art sysmetic (medical) treatment of urological malignancies,” said Prof. Christian Stief (Munich, DE), who is organising the day-long programme of the consensus meeting on November 13. He will be chairing the meeting, together with Profs. Chris Evans (USA) and Karim Fizazi (FR).

“The presentations and papers have been produced in close cooperation among the world’s most renowed specialists in urological and medical oncology. This meeting allows for a complete insight into the treatment of urological malignancies with a relatively short period of time,” added Stief.

The 6th EMUC, from November 13 to 16 at the Lisbon Congress Center, will anchor the EAU-ICUD consensus meeting and a parallel event from the EAU Section of Urological Imaging (ESUI), which will organise their third annual meeting on the same day.

The EAU-ICUD meeting will tackle four areas, mainly testicular, kidney, bladder (urothelial cell carcinoma) and prostate cancers. The latter will be the highlight of the programme, according to Stief, with experts expected to discuss second and third-line options in treating castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Among the issues that will top the agenda for prostate cancer are biology of androgen dependence and castration resistance, androgen deprivation therapy and management of side effects (to include bone health), androgen pathway targeted agents (AR antagonists and androgen synthesis inhibitors), vaccines, immunotherapies and gene-based therapies, cytotoxic chemotherapy and "targeted agents" and isotope-based and radiation therapies.

Multi-modal approachStief underscored the importance of coinciding the consensus meeting with the 6th EMUC as he noted that patients nowadays do not only ask for a treatment that requires a multi-disciplinary approach, but also specialists themselves recognize the crucial and optimal role that collaboration plays in the hospital setting.

"Patients with advanced disease often request a multi-modal approach and comprises various experts from radiology, nuclear medicine, urology to medical oncology, among others. This requires a fine-tuned management of the patient with the urologist having the responsibility for guiding the patient in his decisions,” according to Stief.

But collaborative work in actual clinical settings are also fraught with challenges. “The obstacles we see are that different sub-specialities often have a biased view on what is the best treatmenrt for a specific patient,” he said.

Hence, collaborative conferences are an ideal platform for various medical disciplines to exchange ideas, assess common approaches and the impact of certain treatment strategies.

At the end of the compact, one-day event the EAU and ICUD expect to compile and collect the opinions and recommendations of the various committees for eventual publication. And besides offering a venue for experts to link up with other specialists to boost inter-disciplinary cooperation, Stief noted that participants will have the chance to closely examine the insights and approaches of various cancer experts.

For details on registration, abstract submission and the EMUC programme, visit http://www.emuc2014.org/home/