Radiation professionals can now register to participate in the IAEA’s upcoming conference on radiation oncology, which will take place in Vienna, 20-23 June. The second International Conference on Advances in Radiation Oncology (ICARO2 ) is open to radiation oncologists, radiobiologists, medical physicists and radiotherapy technologists, as well as scientists, researchers and biomedical engineers.
While there are several conferences on radiation oncology, ICARO is unique in bringing together participants from vastly different clinical settings, said Hugo Marsiglia, Chief Medical Officer of the Arturo López Pérez Foundations Cancer Centre in Chile and head of the Latin-American Society of Radiation Oncology (ALATRO). “This diversity and hence exposure to different approaches and techniques is a key strength of ICARO,” he said.
Radiotherapy: a changing discipline
There have been significant technological advances in radiotherapy over the last few years, with many new techniques widely available in the developed world. An aim of the conference, for which delegates from IAEA Member States can register free of charge, is to provide access to professionals from all countries to cutting edge knowledge and information, typically only available at conferences with high registration fees, said Ahmed Meghzifene, a member of the conference organizing committee at the IAEA Division of Human Health.
“While in countries, where I worked for many years as a radiation oncologist for IGR, using advanced technologies, irradiation makes up 60-70% of radiation treatment, in other countries such as Chile it is only used in 20% or less of cases,” Marsiglia said.
ICARO2 will address the possible ways to improve access to radiotherapy, as well as the importance of radiotherapy in the context of national control strategies, said Eduardo Zubizarreta, Head of the Applied Radiation Biology and Radiotherapy Section at the IAEA.
Participants will learn about how different countries address needs for the efficient provision of radiotherapy through careful scientific analysis. The conference supports the IAEA’s overall mission to help Member States enhance their capacities to address cancer with the use of nuclear technologies, achieving quality, efficiency, and sustainability, Zubizarreta said.
Another aim of the conference is to discuss and disseminate best practices on the incorporation of innovations in medical physics and biology into routine clinical practice. Plenary sessions will focus on personalized medicine, recent technological and clinical developments, quality assurance and health care economics. Parallel sessions, panel discussions and teaching lectures will cover the following complex techniques: three-dimensional conformal therapy, stereotactic radiotherapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy, image guided radiation therapy, tomotherapy, image-guided brachytherapy, and future trends in radiotherapy.
The conference will include many training events, including early morning teaching lectures given by internationally recognised specialists, from small field dosimetry to translational radiation biology. It will also provide a platform to discuss and exchange views on the current status of education and training of the various professionals working in radiotherapy.
The full programme is available on the conference web site.
ICARO2 will address the possible ways to improve access to radiotherapy, as well as the importance of radiotherapy in the context of national control strategies.
