(Virtual event) International Conference on Advances in Radiation Oncology (ICARO-3)
16–19 February 2021
Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, this conference will be held virtually.
Registration
Persons who would like full access to the virtual conference platform, must be officially designated and register by sending Participation Form (Form A) through their national authority (e.g. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Permanent Mission to the IAEA or National Atomic Energy Authority) to the IAEA. Persons who take an active role in the event, like chairpersons or presenters of an oral or poster paper, as well as those wishing to collect CME credits, have to be officially designated participants.
Persons who would like limited access to the virtual conference platform, can register as an observer by accessing this link. Observers have access to conference related material (e.g. abstracts, presentations, posters) and to other functions within the virtual conference platform.
Persons who simply would like to follow discussions during the conference can do so via the live-stream button which will be available on this website.
Certificates of Attendance will be available on request to participants and observers.
E-contouring workshops
ICARO-3 will feature three E-contouring workshops which will be broadcast on Tuesday 16 February and Wednesday 17 February 2021. The workshops will be run in cooperation with ASTRO and ESTRO and participation in these workshops will be open to all registered participants. Registration for access to the e-contouring platform (EduCase) will be open to interested participants from 18 – 29 January 2021 via this link.
CME credits
An appropriate number of accredited continuing medical education (CME) credits will be awarded to officially designated participants who need to actively engage in the live sessions taking place during the conference days on 16 – 19 February 2021 and answer the respective session evaluations (available once the live sessions have concluded).
Note: Participants will not be able to accumulate multiple credits from sessions taking place in parallel. As per the rules of EACCME, no CME credits can be collected from on-demand sessions.
Background
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is organizing the third International Conference on Advances in Radiation Oncology (ICARO-3), following the successes of the first and second conferences (ICARO-1 and ICARO-2), which were held in 2009 and 2017. The advances in radiotherapy in the last years have been striking, although numerous challenges remain, including achieving access to high standard cancer care in many countries. New radiotherapy techniques have been implemented in the past decades, including three-dimensional conformal therapy, stereotactic radiotherapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy, image guided and stereotactic body radiation therapy, tomotherapy, new brachytherapy and unsealed-source techniques, and proton and heavy ion therapy. The increased use of these complex techniques, coupled with the need to treat more patients in less time, will continue to drive a reliance on high-end technologies and impose a financial burden on health care programmes. In addition, the development and implementation of quality assurance programmes for these new techniques pose major challenges in Member States.
The conference will give health care professionals an opportunity to review the current developments in clinical applications in the fields of radiation oncology, radiation biology and medical physics, with a view to addressing the challenges of appropriate cancer management in Member States.
It will also critically examine the pivotal role of emerging radiotherapy techniques in tackling the health challenges common to many Member States.
An appropriate number of accredited continuing medical education (CME) credits will be awarded to participants.
Objectives
The conference is aimed at defining the current role and future potential of technological, medical physics and molecular/biological innovations for their incorporation into routine clinical practice in radiation oncology. It will also provide a forum where advances in technology, best practices and quality assurance methodologies can be disseminated and scientific knowledge exchanged. The conference will have the following specific objectives:
- To review the current role and future potential of technological, medical physics and molecular/biological innovations for clinical use in radiation oncology
- To explore the applications of improved imaging tools in treatment planning
- To review the current status of evidence-based recommendations for the treatment of common cancers
- To review the latest developments in medical dosimetry and dose auditing procedures for new radiotherapy techniques
- To review the current status of comprehensive audits in radiotherapy
- To review resource sparing approaches in clinical radiotherapy practice
- To exchange information on the current advances and implementation challenges in the field among leading experts
- To define future challenges and directions in the clinical use of radiotherapy
Topics for Technical Sessions
The IAEA invites participants to provide high quality contributions on all aspects of radiotherapy. The topics to be addressed during the conference will be centred on technological as well as biological, medical physics and clinical advances, and should consider real clinical settings in all Member States. Both academic and practice-based papers under the umbrella of the following topics will be considered:
- Technological advances and challenges
- Roadmap for setting up modern radiation oncology facilities
- New treatment and imaging techniques and clinical evidence
- Health economics in radiotherapy
- Developments in treatment planning
- Small field dosimetry
- Auditing procedures
- Personalized medicine
- Advances in the treatment of recurrent patients
- National cancer control strategies
- Developments in quality assurance and new approaches to quality management
- Safety in radiation therapy
- Intensity modulated radiotherapy, including arc-based approaches
- Image-guided radiotherapy
- Stereotactic body radiotherapy
- Particle therapy
- Telemedicine
- Radiobiology
- Spatially fractionated radiation therapy
- FLASH therapy
- Combined therapies
- Paediatric radiotherapy
- Clinical research
- Applied brachytherapy
- Education and training of professionals
Target Audience
This conference will offer an opportunity to review the latest technological, clinical and biological developments that are relevant to radiotherapy, and the main target audience therefore comprises:
- Radiation oncologists
- Radiobiologists
- Medical physicists
- Technologists
The conference would also be of interest to scientists, researchers and biomedical engineers working in the field of radiotherapy.
Exhibitions
A virtual exhibition is planned. Details will be discussed with interested exhibitors.
Key Deadlines and Dates
- 30 September 2020: Electronic submission of synopses through INDICO
- 30 September 2020: Submission of Forms B through official channel
- 15 October 2020: Notification of acceptance of synopses
- No deadline: Registration only (submission of Form A through official channel)
Greening
To demonstrate its commitment to sustainability, the IAEA will organize this conference as a 'green meeting' according to the guidelines of the Austrian Ecolabel.
There will be a focus on the areas of paper smart documentation, waste reduction and recycling, and environmentally friendly catering.
Conference app
The IAEA Conferences and Meetings App provides a one-stop access to information on the Conference, exhibitions and scheduled side events. The app also allows users to put together their own personalized schedule of events. Via this app participants will be able to view contributed papers and the latest conference programme, message other participants, and view PowerPoint presentations released after the event. Participants will receive an email inviting them to register for the app approximately one week before the conference.
For iPhone or iPad users, get your free download through the Apple iTunes Store; those with Android devices can visit the Google Play Store.