Düsseldorf symposium tackles detection and treatment of early PCa
European and US experts on prostate cancer will gather in Düsseldorf on October 14 for a day-long symposium to assess the current detection and treatment regimens for early prostate cancer (PCa) while at the same time taking stock of the most promising developments that aim to improve the management of localised PCa.
To be held at the Heinrich Heine University, the Symposium on Early Prostate Cancer, New Detection Tools” is organised under the auspices of the German Urological Association (DGU), Heinrich Heine University and the University Clinics of Dusseldorf. The European Association of Urology (EAU) has supported the symposium, one of the few expert meetings that will examine the latest updates on early PCa and present state-of-the-art lectures. The meeting’s focus will be on issues of screening and the current challenges encountered by PCa specialists regarding detection, disease pathology and medical treatment, among other topics.
“The meetings aims to elaborate on screening perspectives and the work beinig done on molecular pathology of prostate cancer. Another point would be the focus on the role of imaging technology and how recent developments in this field will impact the treatment of localised PCa,” said Prof. Rolf Ackermann (Dusselforf) who will give a lecture on “Prostate Cancer Detection- The Past and the Future.”
With the goal to show the progress so far achieved in all areas of detecting and managing localised PCa, Ackermann said the meeting would highlight current efforts in urology to identify the subgroup of patients who are in need of early focal treatment.
“We anticipate that for early PCa we will be able to develop a very personalised treatment concept for the patient. But this will depend on the progress and achievements made in the molecular biology of cancer,” added Ackermann. He added that despite the ongoing debate that linked screening and overtreatment, he is optimistic that current progress in detection will eventually lead to benefits such as a more reliable way of identifying patients who have higher risk of developing lethal disease.
The meeting will be divided in four sessions that will cover the following topics: screening in men below 50 years of age, PCa tumour stem cells and molecular pathology, early detection/focal treatment and new concepts. A debate on focal treatment examining the pros and cons will also be presented.
Ackermann noted that recent researches on PCa screening have yielded important insights on disease mortality and treatment approaches although it led to other questions and issues such as the ongoing debate on overtreatment, disease progression and how molecular biology and imaging can impact current treatment strategies.
Among the speakers and participants are S. C. Müller (Bonn), H.G. Lilja (New York), F. Hamdy (Oxford), J. Windolf (Düsseldorf), A. Colins (New York), H. M. Piper (Düsseldorf), H. Schwarzenbach (Hamburg), M. Emberton (London), M. Wirth (Dresden), M. J. Droller (New York), P.-A. Abrahamsson (Malmö), M. J. Roobol (Rotterdam), T. Strohmeyer (Munich), P. Albers (Düsseldorf), S. Perner (Bonn), G. Antoch (Düsseldorf) and D. Blondin (Düsseldorf).