On November 16th, the XXVI Congress of Grup Oncologic Catala-Occita took place in Hospital del Mar of Barcelona. The participation was of 207 attendees, of whom 51 were physicians, 19 physicists, 69 technicians, 6 nurses, 5 professors and 33 students from technician’s schools.
The global theme of this congress has been to discuss the possibilities of new indications in Radiotherapy in the context of new available technologies and new strategies of treatment.
So, from the clinical point of view, the possibilities of Intraoperative Radiotherapy with low energy photon were presented, focussing on lung primary, breast and disseminated non oligometastasic prostate tumours, but in reference to new systemic treatment schedules. In the global sessions, the indication of re-irradiation for prostate, breast and head and neck cancers were considered, as well as the radiotherapy role in the handle of benign proliferative or inflammatory diseases with no response to standard treatments.
From the technological side, tracking systems of prostate with transponders detection and verification systems based on surfaces superposition experiences were shared to be used as a quality control for patient positioning.
In the medical physicist sessions, dual energy tomography, 3D printers uses in radiotherapy for cast and molds experiences were presented. Also the Scripting task group of the Societat Catalana de Física Mèdica explained the uses and possibilities of scripts.
In parallel, the technician sessions were focussed in extreme hypofractionating and the practical side of its application in stereotactic cranial and extracranial anatomical locations.
The level of the more than 40 conferences, presentations and communications exposed was very high, contributing to the satisfaction expressed by the attendees at the end of this edition devoted to boost the expansion of the new indications of radiotherapy to our environment within the pale of our group GOCO.
Thank you very much to all the participants!