EAU16: Record high in abstracts submissions for Munich

Tue, 17 Nov 2015

Prostate diseases, kidney cancer are most studied topics

A record high of 4,414 abstracts were submitted for the 31st Annual EAU Congress in Munich next year with prostate cancer, functional urology (Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms), benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and the surgical treatment of kidney tumours attracting the biggest number of submissions.

Compared to last year’s 3,975 submitted abstracts in Madrid, this year exceeded the 4,000 mark with submissions coming from 79 countries from around the world, and as far Venezuela, Vietnam, Tajikistan, Hong Kong, Colombia and Argentina, among many others. Including the video submissions, the total submissions reached 4,414 submitted abstracts (4,272 in Madrid).

The video submissions also exceeded last year’s record with 336 video submitted compared to 297 videos in 2014. The more than 250 reviewers are tasked to examine around 53 topics covering the whole range of urology, with many topics focused on prostate cancer treatments, bladder and kidney cancers.

In terms of topic coverage, this year is not so different from last year with prostate cancer treatment (surgery, radiotherapy and brachytherapy) posting the most number of submissions at 270, followed by 198 studies on functional LUTS (treatment and neuro-urology), 173 abstracts for the diagnosis and treatment of BPH, and 165 abstracts examining the surgical treatment (nephron-sparing) of renal tumours. Studies on new technologies and techniques and the management of advanced urothelial tumours recorded 138 and 135 submitted abstracts, respectively.

Similar to trends seen in previous congress years, the biggest number of submissions came from Italy (471), Germany (401), Japan (367), the United Kingdom (360) and South Korea (353). Spain, France and the United States also recorded high contributions. As seen in previous congress years, mainland Europe, Asia, North America and the Middle East are among the most active regions.

Video submissions came mostly from Italy (79), Spain (62), India (20), France (19) and China (18). Ten video sessions will be held during the congress with more than 75 videos selected for viewing. And as in previous years, the reviewers will screen the submitted abstracts to select around 1,000 abstracts for presentation in Munich in 90 abstract sessions scheduled from the second to the fourth congress day, 12 to 14 March 2016.

The most number of abstracts submitted (1,012) were on prostate cancer, with around 13 sub-topics examined in studies, ranging from basic research (cell biology and biomarkers), screening and diagnosis (imaging, PSA and biopsies) and treatment (surgical, systemic and radiotherapy), to name a few. Urothelial tumour topics such as basic research, staging, disease management attracted 535 abstracts, while treatments of renal tumours (surgical and systemic) were examined in 402 studies.

All accepted and presented abstracts are eligible for the prizes granted to the best abstracts in various categories such as oncology, non-oncology, abstracts (by residents) and for the three best video abstracts. Accepted abstracts will also be accessible on-line for EAU members one month before the congress and at later date to the general public.