'Tailoring colorectal cancer treatment', Swedish Colorectal Days and ESCP masterclass took place in Malmö, Sweden, 20-21 April 2023.
Malmö is Sweden's third biggest city and located just opposite Copenhagen in the very south of Sweden. The annual Swedish Colorectal Days were hosted by the colorectal unit at Skåne University Hospital under the lead of Pamela Buchwald on behalf of the Swedish Society of Colorectal Surgeons. David Zimmermann (NL) and Dion Morton (UK) were invited as ESCP representatives.
The meeting attracted almost 200 participants of which one fifth were international delegates. The topic of the meeting was 'Tailoring colorectal cancer treatment' and the increasingly complex treatment of colorectal cancer was highlighted from all angles. A final session also dealt with training in colorectal surgery.
Several of the discussions were about whether we are under- or over-treating patients with colorectal cancer, where the obvious answer is that we are doing both since we have largely treated patients at group level. With more precision medicine including molecular biology and genetics and an ever-increasing number of available treatment methods, treatment can be diversified and individualized in a completely new way.
Colorectal surgeon David Zimmerman from the Netherlands is the lead of the European accreditation The European Board of Surgical Qualification (EBSQ) in coloproctology and he emphasized the importance of accreditation. If the complexity of our subspecialty was not already clear after the previous sessions, he clarified that a colorectal surgeon is not only a surgeon who performs colorectal surgery, but is well educated, evidence based and trained in a scientific approach. Sweden has been high on the list of countries with the most accredited per capita, but other countries have passed in recent years.
The meeting attracted a large number of distinguished lecturers from other European countries including Prof. Dion Morton (UK), Miss Elaine Burns (UK), Prof. Quentin Denost (FR), Mr David Zimmermann (NL), Miss Carly Bissett (UK) and Mr Pim Burger (NL).
The high level of the meeting was greatly appreciated and the ESCP masterclass gave the meeting an extra international touch. The colorectal unit of Skåne University Hospital would like to thank all participants, lecturers, sponsors, the Swedish Society of Colorectal Surgeons and ESCP for a magnificent meeting!
