China, EAU to further expand collaborative meetings

The Chinese Urology Association (CUA) intends to further expand their participation in the Annual EAU Congress and hopes the closer ties between the CUA and the European Association of Urology (EAU) will lead to a more dynamic exchange of professional skills and knowledge exchange among its members.

“We are very keen to collaborate with the EAU during its annual congress. This can be achieved through more educational exchanges and with a bigger number of congress participants,” said CUA during a joint executive meeting with the EAU held in Shanghai in September.

The joint meeting coincided with the 13th Urological Association of Asia (UAA) Congress & 22nd CUA Annual Meeting in Shanghai from September 3 to 6. Under the auspices of CUA, the Chinese European Urology Education Programme (CEUEP) also welcomed young urologists across China for the annual education and training event patterned after the EAU’s European Urology Residents Education Programme (EUREP).

Meanwhile, EAU Guidelines Chairman James N’Dow received an honorary membership award from CUA, while former EAU Secretary General Per-Anders Abrahamsson was granted honorary membership by the UAA.

CUA cited N’Dow’s work and involvement in CUA’s educational activities. The UAA, on the other hand, highlighted Abrahamsson’s valuable contributions to the development of urology and his contributions to international urology by linking up various urological groups.

During the Shanghai meeting, CUA executive members Professors Yinghao Sun, Jian Huang and Li-Ping Xie met with EAU Secretary General Chris Chapple to discuss the aims of both the CUA and the EAU on how to further boost their ties in the coming years.

Profs. Chapple and Sun acknowledged the strong collaboration between the associations, which has seen remarkable growth in the last 10 years. They also reaffirmed their aims to intensify collaborative projects such as in training, education and scientific exchanges. Currently, the EAU and CUA have collaborated in various educational activities including training workshops, educational courses and participation in scientific meetings.

Chapple said the EAU will continue its support to the CUA through its active partipation in the association’s project and by sending visiting lecturers and scholars to China. Other collaborative activities would be in Guidelines training, scientific publications and expanded links with young urologists from Europe and China.

“We affirm the warm and cordial relations we have with CUA and we look forward to strengthening these ties in the future through projects in education, science and collaborative meetings,” added Chapple.

Mentorship in CEUEP

The CEUEP which was held on August 29 and 30 preceded the CUA meeting. Professors Abrahamsson, Bertrand Malavaud and Chapple chaired three sessions during the CEUEP event where they give update lectures in prostate and bladder cancers and benign prostatic obstruction (BPO), respectively.

Abrahamsson discussed the optimal way to evaluate a patient with elevated PSA (e.g. biopsies, imaging, counselling), while Profs. Y. Zhang and Y. Niu tackled individualised treatment for prostate cancer and treatment strategies for recurrent disease. Chapple took up the conservative, medical and surgical treatment of BPO and examined the pitfalls and benefits of each treatment. The Chinese faculty composed of Profs. Y. Shao and K. Xu looked into new treatments in BPO including medical and minimal invasive treatments and the challenges in diagnosing the disease.

Malavaud gave a comprehensive presentation on the management of non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), inluding diagnostic and operative endoscopy, issues in risk stratification and bladder instillation techniques. His counterparts Profs. G. Zhu and S. Du focused on surgical and non-surgical management such as radical cystectomy and diversion, neoadjuvant chemotherapy and managing metastatic disease.

Chapple noted the EAU’s commitment to support the CEUEP educational goals and with his colleagues from CUA reaffirmed both organisations’s strategy to strengthen their partnership through scientific and scholarship exchanges.