From July 6th to 8th, 2023, the 13th annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert Alliance (APPLE) was held in Seoul, South Korea, with the participation of nearly 1000 experts and scholars in the field of liver cancer from around the world.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has set ambitious goals in its Action Plan for the Elimination of Viral Hepatitis: by 2030, the diagnosis rate for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) should reach 90%, the treatment rate for eligible patients should be 80%, new infections should decrease by 90%, and related deaths should decrease by 65%. However, recent data shows that in mainland China and Hong Kong, the diagnosis rates for CHB are only 19% and 27%, respectively, and the treatment rates are only 11% and 22%, respectively. Globally, the diagnosis and treatment rates for CHB are only 10% and 5%, respectively. Achieving WHO's 2030 goal of eliminating viral hepatitis as a public health threat remains a daunting challenge. At the 13th Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert Meeting (APPLE 2023), Dr. Wai-Kay Seto from the University of Hong Kong, China, was invited to give a special report on the risks and benefits of long-term HBV treatment.
With the advancement and innovation in surgical techniques, interventions, radiofrequency ablation, and other treatment methods, there are increasing treatments for early hepatocellular carcinoma. Curative treatments, including liver resection, liver transplantation, interventional treatment, ablative treatment, and radiotherapy, have all achieved satisfactory results. However, how to effectively and minimally invasively treat early hepatocellular carcinoma and manage it in the long term, while ensuring patients achieve long-term survival and improving their quality of life, has been widely discussed in recent years. From July 6-8, 2023, the 13th Asia-Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert Meeting (APPLE 2023) was held in Seoul, South Korea. A special session on the evolving management of early HCC was set up. Notably, Dr. Hyo-Cheol Kim from Seoul University, introduced the application of arterial therapy in early hepatocellular carcinoma and shared experiences from Korean hospitals.
The 49th European Bone Marrow Transplantation Annual Meeting (EBMT 2023) took place in Paris, France, from April 23 to 26, 2023. Experts and scholars from various countries gathered to present exciting advancements in research. In the field of blood tests, the fifty-year anniversary of flow cytometry coincided with this year's conference. Over the past half-century, this technology has become an indispensable tool in the diagnosis and follow-up of hematological malignancies. Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is the most common acute leukemia in adults, and the detection of Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) plays a crucial role in clinical treatment and prognosis assessment, despite encountering various technical challenges. With the release of two significant expert consensus statements by the European Leukemia Network (ELN) in 2018 and 2021, technical issues related to AML MRD detection by Multiparameter Flow Cytometry (MFC) were discussed, making this research once again the focus of the hematology field.
The 2023 European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) was held from March 29th to April 1st, in a combined online and offline format in Copenhagen, Denmark. Professor Nicolas Girard from the Curie Institute in Paris, France, presented the 3-year data update (Abstract 84O) of the CheckMate 816 study on neoadjuvant immune combined with chemotherapy in the Proffered Paper 2 session. In an interview with Oncology Frontier he further discussed the significant research data released at ELCC 2023, the status of dual immune checkpoint inhibitor regimens in the treatment of driver gene-negative non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and the treatment of EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations (ex20ins) subtype.
The 2023 European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC) is taking place in Copenhagen, the capital of the fairy tale kingdom of Denmark. On the first day of the conference, a session of oral presentations showcased the Phase II randomized study data on EGFR-TKI combined with local consolidative therapy for treating EGFR mutant metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) . Dr. Zhengfei Zhu from Fudan University Affiliated Tumor Hospital provides commentary on these research findings.
Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma (ENKTCL) of nasal type is a rare subtype, commonly found in the Asian population and associated with the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). At present, the prognosis for patients remains poor, especially for relapsed/refractory (R/R) cases. From June 8 to 11, 2023, the 28th European Hematology Association (EHA) annual meeting was held in Frankfurt, Germany. A selected oral report (Abstract No.: S226) from the conference showed that the use of PD-1 inhibitors alone or in combination significantly improved the treatment of R/R ENKTCL patients. This study further confirmed that immune checkpoint inhibitors have become an important treatment option for R/R ENKTCL patients. Oncology Frontier invited Dr. Huiqiang Huang from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center to share the research findings and insights at the conference.
From June 8th to 11th, 2023, the 28th European Hematology Association Congress (EHA) will take place in Frankfurt, Germany, in both online and offline formats, organized by the European Hematology Society. As the largest international conference in the field of European hematology, the EHA Congress will cover various scientific topics, clinical and basic research, benign and malignant hematology, and discuss the latest developments in the field of hematology.
Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia (VAP) continues to be a critical concern in intensive care units, leading to prolonged hospital stays and increased mortality rates. The European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) 2023 unveiled crucial research findings shedding light on innovative approaches to VAP diagnosis and treatment. In this article, we present a synthesis of the key discoveries from ECCMID 2023, offering insights into the evolving landscape of VAP research.
The 2023 World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), organized by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC), took place in Singapore from September 9-12. Dr. Melissa L. Johnson from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine presented pivotal findings on antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) for treating small cell lung cancer (SCLC). We had the privilege to interview Dr. Johnson during the conference.
