Course Director

Philip Poortmans, Radiation Oncologist, University of Antwerp, Antwerp (BE)

Teachers

Sandra Hol, Radiotherapy Technologist,, Instituut Verbeeten, Tilburg (NL)

Tibor Major, Medical Physicist, National Institute of Oncology, Budapest (HU)

Icro Meattini, Radiation Oncologist, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Florence (IT)

Vratislav Strnad, Radiation Oncologist, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, (DE)

Local Organizer

To follow

BACKGROUND

Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) is rightfully becoming increasingly popular as a standard treatment option for early stage breast cancer. Numerous patients participated in several prospective randomised clinical trials using a wide variety of techniques. We expect that more long-term results will be presented in the coming years.

This course is planned to be organised in the even years and should be clearly distinguished from the multidisciplinary course that will continue to being organised in the odd years in Europe. As breast cancer is a very common cancer and APBI can be considered as a distinctive and standard approach in modern breast cancer treatment, we are confident that by organising both courses on an alternate basis we meet a clear need of the radiation oncology community.

COURSE AIM

This course dedicated to APBI will present only very few general issues of breast cancer and especially focus on patient selection and on the variety of techniques that can be used for the delivery of APBI. It will elaborate extensively on the technical aspects of the delivery of this specific form of radiation therapy, including optimal target volume delineation.

Apart from presentations, interactivity will be stimulated by organising clinical case discussions, target volume contouring exercises and debates. The faculty includes specialists in all technical approaches currently used for delivering APBI.

Course Content

• Epidemiology: is the proportion of early stage low risk patients increasing?
• Patient selection based on tumour- and patient-related factors
• Local surgery: choices and techniques (including oncoplastic)
• Target volume delineation with discussions based on homework
• Practical treatment preparation and delivery tips and tricks
• APBI techniques including external beam, intraoperative electron beam, interstitial, endocavitary brachytherapy and other techniques
• Pre-operative APBI
• Fractionation schedules
• Combination of external beam APBI with advanced treatment techniques including IGRT and breathing control
• Long-term effects including cosmetic outcome after APBI
• Recent and on-going clinical trials
• Clinical case discussions.

Prerequisites

Before commencing this course participants should:

• Have at least basic experience with all aspects of radiation therapy for breast cancer patients.

If the participants are not radiation/clinical oncologists (in training) they should be involved in the interdisciplinary and/or multidisciplinary case discussions and/or in work related to treating breast cancer patients

• Participate on beforehand in the exercises on target volume delineation for APBI in breast cancer.

Teaching Methods

Approximately (spread over 3,5 days):

• 21 hours of lectures, case discussions and debates
• 4 hours of practical workshops for treatment preparation including contouring and treatment delivery.

Methods of Assessment

• MCQ
• Delineation exercise
• Evaluation form.

Programme

Available here

Key Words

Breast cancer, radiation therapy, multidisciplinarity, breast conserving therapy, APBI, clinical trials, target volume delineation, side effects, quality of life.

Further Reading

Please consult the ESTRO website page of this course for further information.

Accreditation

Application for CME recognition will be submitted to the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME), an institution of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). EACCME credits are recognised by the American Medical Association towards the Physicians Recognition Award (PRA). Information on the status of the applications can be obtained from the ESTRO office.

Membership

ESTRO members can order products at substantially reduced prices. To benefit from the member registration rate, you must subscribe for the ESTRO membership 2022 BEFORE registering to the course. To become an ESTRO member, benefit from the member registration rate and discover the many other member advantages, please visit the membership page.

Fees

* Members with specialty RadiationTherapist (RTT) may register at the In-Training fee

The standard rate is applied until the early rate published on the front webpage of this course expires.

Desk rates are applied after the early rate published on the front webpage of this course expires.

Advance registration & payment are required.              

Registration will close on the date published on the front page of the course.
 

Cancellation

A registration to the online workshop may be cancelled without any fees before pre-online course material is sent out. Pre-online course material is sent out a few days before the first workshop lesson. After the pre-online course material is sent out, no refund of the registration fee is possible.

Reduced fees

Members from emerging countries may register at a preferential rate of 350 Euro. Emerging country fee applies to individuals from low-income and lower-middle-income economies according to the World Bank listing here.

Additionally, all specialties from the following countries can benefit from this preferential rate: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine.  In addition, medical physicists from Cyprus can email education@estro.org to apply for this fee.

The preferential rate of 350 Euro is granted automatically when you click on the  BOOK NOW  button and the three conditions below are met:

1. Only ESTRO members for 2022 are eligible (please make sure your 2022 membership is in order before you click on the BOOK NOW  button)
2. Only one course per person per year can be subsidized by ESTRO
3. Sponsored candidates are not entitled to reduced fees (the invoicing address has to be the one of the participant)  

 Please note:

• We can only guarantee a certain number of reduced fees per course
• Application deadlines are the same as early registration fees (3 months before the course date).