Lung Cancer 28 (2000) 253 – 254 www.elsevier.nl/locate/lungcan
Meeting report The IASLC-WAB Joint International Conference on Lung Cancer and Thoraco-Pulmonology No6ember 25 – 28, 1999, Genoa, Italy
The idea to hold this joint conference (Fig. 1) was first raised during the Board Meeting of Regents, including Dr Y. Yoshimura, now President of WAB, at the WAB World Conference in Budapest, in 1998. IASLC and WAB (World Association for Bronchology) are both societies deeply concerned with lung cancer and they share a great number of members. The two societies, even though dealing with a common target, are clearly differentiated in their specific competencies. IASLC is deeply involved in progressively transferring the basic biological knowledge on lung cancer into the clinical
Fig. 1. The IASLC-WAB Joint International Conference on Lung Cancer and Thoraco-Pulmonology.
approach for cure, while WAB is mainly addressing the diagnostic problems of early detection and the clinical follow-up of lung cancer as well as the local control of the disease directly at the endobronchial level, through a sophisticated armamentarium of advanced technologies. While basically spotlighting lung cancer, the conference was in reality a qualified updating clinical course made by an international faculty of 58 invited speakers addressing the most important thoracopulmonary diseases. Ten out of 17 sessions and symposia were devoted to lung cancer starting with the IASLC-WAB opening symposium on lung cancer highlighting different aspects of molecular carcinogenesis and epidemiology, endoscopy, staging and therapy. Followed sessions on ‘Screening for Early Diagnosis and Surgical Results in Early Detected Lung Cancer’, ‘Early Diagnosis and Treatment of Lung Cancer by Endoscopic High-Tech’, ‘Diagnostic Bronchology’, ‘Interventional Bronchology’, ‘Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy for Lung Cancer’ (part 1 and part 2), ‘Selected Clinical Issues in Lung Cancer Management’ and, finally, ‘Extended Surgery for Locally Advanced NSCLC’. Other selected topics on general thoracic surgery and thoracic medicine were presented and among these clinical issues, two special sessions were dedicated to respiratory medicine focusing
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Meeting report / Lung Cancer 28 (2000) 253–254
on the management of asthmatic patients and on the interstitial lung diseases, while the surgical topics comprised special sessions on the carcinoma of the esophagus and the gastroesophageal junction. The remaining surgical topics included ’Lung Reduction for Emphysema’ and the still lifethreatening bronchopleural fistulas, but also some old and now surgically renewed thoraco-pulmonary diseases, such as tuberculosis, chronic pulmonary infections, and bronchiectasis. The opening ceremony of the conference was preceeded by a session on ‘Antibiotic Prophylaxis and Therapy in Thoraco-Pulmonary Diseases’ and was immediately followed by the special lec-
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ture on ’Tuberculosis in India’ presented by Dr Digambar Behera, Chandigarh (India). The conference was granted the auspices of ACCP, IBES, and WASOG and was attended by 200 colleagues from 26 countries around the world. Giovanni Motta, MD, FECTS Department of General and Thoracic Surgery Uni6ersity of Genoa Laargo Rosanna Benzi, 8, 16 132 Genoa, Italy Tel.: + 39-10-352982; fax: +39-10-3537262 E-mail address:
[email protected] (G. Motta).