SEEM15 Day 2: Courses, Competitions and Young Urologists
The second day of the 11th EAU South-Eastern European Meeting was a microcosm of the EAU itself: education, training, support for young urologists and diversity in membership. Early risers could attend the ESU Course on endourology and related oncology, chaired and for a large part presented by Prof. Evangelos Liatsikos. Drs. Canda and Balbay also spoke.
Prof Liatsikos is a member of the ESU board and a veteran of the courses that are presented throughout the year all across Europe and beyond. “We do this regularly at EAU Meetings and National Society meetings, when we are invited. The particular strength of an ESU course is that the faculty is filtered: we know their quality and we are sure that their recommendations match the EAU Guidelines. This gives the courses quality and consistency.”
“The ESU Course was relatively early, so it’s also necessary to keep the audience involved with questions and discussion. The local organisers or society request specific topics, and the ESU decides on the speakers and the talks. In Turkey, in my experience, we have given a large variety of topics, there is no specific topic that is requested regularly.”
The Local Angle
Prof. Kadioglu, former president of the Turkish Urological Association backs up this observation: “In Turkey, we don’t have any specific diseases or qualms anymore. These have been eradicated over time and the balance of urological conditions is similar to the rest of Europe. There are some factors that are similar to other Southern European or Mediterranean countries, like a stone formation.”
“Endourology is rising field in Turkey over last five years, so we’ve taken the opportunity to see how Western colleagues approach it. Oncology is 40% of our urology practice, it is the first important subspeciality in our armamentarium.”
On the subject of the SEEM, its appeal and its scientific programme, Kadioglu points to its broad character: “Most of the programme is based on uro-oncology but several subspecialties also show up in state-of-the-art lectures and hands-on training courses. It’s been a good balance of content for beginners and advanced urologists.”
Turkey is also an attractive location for the SEEM, as it has favorable visa arrangements with its neighbors. This means high attendance from the Middle East, more so than if the meeting were hosted with an EU country.
A day for the young
The second day of SEEM15 was also a day for the young urologist. Indeed, meetings organized by the EAU Regional Office are designed to attract local talent and help them prepare for participation in the EAU (and its Annual Congress) at large.
The Young Urologists Competition, a feature introduced to the regional meetings by EAU Regional Office Chairman Prof. Bob Djavan is a way for a region’s National Societies to put their most talented young members forward and to give a ten-minute talk on any topic of their choosing. The urologists are then (intellectually) grilled by their peers and senior expert judges. Dr. Seyyed Mohammad Ghahestani from Iran presented an extensive case on the individualization of multi-aspect VUR treatment. The presentation received many follow-up questions from the audience, partly because it challenged the EAU Guidelines.
Ghahestani: “I was pleased with how it went. I thought I had 20 minutes to present, but it turned out to be only 10. There was a lot of discussion, but it was necessary. The content that I was rendering what somewhat complicated and controversial, and it needed more time. I propose that any panel on VUR must regard 104 possible scenarios. This is somewhat controversial because it doesn’t match the EAU Guidelines. They only mention six distinct scenarios, but I think in practice there are a lot more.”
The winners of the Young Urologists Competition and Best Poster Award will be announced tomorrow at 9:00, local time.
Further topics of note for residents and young urologists were the Young Urologists Office session, which outlined the YUO and ESRU programmes and missions, as well as the ESRU Quiz. Dr. Nevzat Can Sener from Adana, Turkey won free admission to next year’s SEEM meeting in Sarajevo.