Gabriela Möslein, ESCP’s General Secretary and current Chair of the EHTG (European Hereditary Tumor Group), will chair this joint ESCP/EHTG symposium alongside Rory Kennelly, Consultant General and Colorectal Surgeon at St Vincent’s Private Hospital (Dublin).
The highly anticipated joint European Hereditary Tumour Group (EHTG) and ESCP symposium will return for the second time at this year’s Annual ESCP Meeting in Vienna. The session will hear from several prestigious speakers regarding the diagnosis and treatments of hereditary tumour syndromes - including Sanne ten Broeke, clinical geneticist at University Medical Center Groningen (The Netherlands).
We spoke to Gabriela and Sanne to get an insight on what delegates can expect from this year’s Joint ESCP/EHTG session.
The symposium will feature the latest research and scientific advances in treatment of oligopolyposis, attenuated polyposis and new polyposis syndromes as well as global management of Lynch syndrome.
Möslein says:
"Our collective focus as surgeons is evolving as clinical awareness rises due to a marked increase in availability of genetic testing and decreasing cost. Also, systematic testing for microsatellite instability is becoming an essential diagnostic requirement for therapeutic decisions in colorectal tumours.
"Additionally, there is a marked increase of colorectal cancer in the young and in both these scenarios, hereditary cancer especially Lynch syndrome will be the underlying cause. Therefore, the results of genetic testing must be translated to clinical care and the state-of-the-art recommendations easily accessible for surgeons across Europe.”
Möslein argues that steps in the right direction for better identification of patients with hereditary conditions are being made in that systematic functional screening tests (implemented in 2017) and technological advances such as multi-gene panel testing and decreasing cost will lead to a yet underestimated number of high-risk patients recognised with deleterious mutations. A single index patient will lead to the corresponding family with an average of thee affected family members.
She adds:
“It is vital that detailed guidelines are implemented and followed. It is also important that there is clear communication and shared best practice for all clinicians but also for patients with hereditary conditions. ”
The ESCP/ETHG Symposium will feature:
- Oligopolyposis, attenuated polyposis and new polyposis syndromes - Julian Sampson (UK)
- PMS2 and Lynch syndrome and individual risks redefined - Sanne ten Broeke (The Netherlands)
- Global management of Lynch syndrome - Ian Frayling (UK)
- Immunotherapy for Sporadic and Hereditary Colorectal cancer - Magnus von Knebel Doeberitz (Germany)
Sanne ten Broeke, clinical geneticist in training at University Medical Center Groningen (Netherlands), will lead a segment within the symposium entitled ‘PSM2 and Lynch syndrome and individual risks redefined’. Ten Broeke recently completed her thesis on this topic, which proposed that PMS2 carriers are only at increased risk of colorectal and endometrial cancer but that the risk of other Lynch-associated cancers is not clinically significantly increased.
Ten Broeke, who chairs the wh(y)-EHTG committee will discuss the latest advances regarding Lynch syndrome, also known as hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer, and the specific risks linked to those patients with a mutations in the PSM2 gene. She will also shed some light on theories regarding the reasons for differences in risks for individual Lynch patients.
Ten Broeke says:
"Recent research and evidence suggests the basis for gene-specific surveillance guidelines. It’s important that we focus on implementing this knowledge more widely to improve clinical care. Sharing it at this influential conference is a key part of that process."
Joint ESCP/EHTG Symposium
Date: Friday 27 September
Venue: Parallel Hall M
Time: 10:20 - 11:35