Monday, 6 November, 2023
Reflections on the ESMO Congress 2023
The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2023 Congress, held in Madrid, brought together a diverse range of healthcare professionals and researchers from across the globe. The ESMO Congress is the leading professional organisation for medical oncology, with more than 33,000 participants representing oncology professionals from 155 countries worldwide. The congress presents the latest scientific developments in basic, translational, and clinical cancer research and contextualises new findings for best practice.
This annual event serves as a critical platform for the exchange of knowledge and insights, featuring the latest advancements in oncology research, clinical trials, and patient care.
Prof Michaela Higgins, Director of the UCD Cancer Trials Cluster was in attendance, amongst the many delegates from Ireland. The UCD Cluster was also fortunate enough to be able to fund one of our research nurses from the Mater’s Clinical Trial Research Unit (CTRU), Annie Keely, to attend. You can read Michaela's and Annie's experiences below.
ESMO 2023 was a testament to the spirit of collaboration and knowledge-sharing in the oncology community. The nurse's hands-on experience and the Director's strategic insights both underscore the vital role of events like ESMO in driving progress in the fight against cancer.
As the oncology community looks forward to future conferences and endeavors, the enduring message from ESMO 2023 is clear: together, we can continue to make a significant difference in the lives of cancer patients through cutting-edge research, dedicated clinical care, and unwavering commitment to the cause.
Our Director's Perspective: The Cutting-Edge of Oncology
The ESMO congress 2023 was a chance to catch up with the latest and greatest developments in oncology through a strong offering of study updates and new research findings. Madrid is a beautiful city and the conference was very well structured with a ‘virtual attendee bag’ and a 5-day city travel pass provided to all attendees. As always, I particularly enjoyed the chance to catch up with multi-disciplinary colleagues from across Ireland and further afield.
Several of our oncology trainees had the opportunity to attend the meeting and came away more enthusiastic than ever about a career in oncology and the importance of clinical trials. There were also a few hours spent each evening discussing the new data amongst ourselves and considering how it may impact patients on our return home.
My particular focus is on breast cancer. I enjoyed the updated analyses from the Keynote-522 and Destiny-04 studies, which show continued benefit for the addition of Pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy for patients with Triple Negative Breast Cancer and Trastuzumab Deruxtecan for advanced breast cancer that demonstrates ‘HER2-Low’ positivity respectively.
Unfortunately, neither of these drugs are yet reimbursed routinely in Ireland for public patients, underlying the importance of a) doing everything we can to improve the drug approval and reimbursement process and b) using cancer clinical trials to get access to novel therapies for our patients. Pembrolizumab and Trastuzumab-Deruxtecan are available for subsets of breast cancer patients in Ireland via clinical trials currently open in UCD Cancer Trials Cluster sites.
A Nurse's Perspective: Discovery and Connection
I had the pleasure of flying to Madrid to attend this year’s ESMO congress. I am so grateful to the UCD Cancer Trials Cluster for giving me the opportunity to attend a meeting of huge value to me as a clinical trials and research nurse and to proudly represent the Mater Hospital CTRU and St. Vincent’s trials unit.
One of many very interesting sessions that I attended was ‘Keeping the outcome in mind: Applying best practices for managing HR+/HER2-EBC at high risk of recurrence.’ This covered topics such as the latest developments for oral adjuvant therapy and an analysis of the latest data, guideline recommendations and best practices. Included in this was the Natalee trial, one on which I act as lead nurse in the CTRU. It was extremely motivating and rewarding to see that the hard work put into building the Natalee trial is proving to have a positive outcome for people with breast cancer.
As part of ESMO, the European Oncology Nurse Society (EONS) held many interesting, valuable, and engaging meetings. As an EONS member, I was lucky to be able to attend many of these, including ‘The important role of the Oncology Nurse’ and ‘Wellbeing in cancer nursing workforce’. I found these meetings and the networking with my European cancer nurse colleagues to be a great support for my future practice.
The opportunity to network with the oncology multidisciplinary team is something I want to highlight. After a difficult few years as a healthcare professional throughout Covid-19, meeting my colleagues and attending onsite symposiums is something I do not take for granted. I found it of great value and a boost of moral to represent my unit at ESMO. I was inspired by the many respected clinicians I engaged with and I look forward to further progressing through the research and trials presented at ESMO 2023. There are many more to come and I can’t wait for ESMO 2024.
I look forward to attending many more conferences with my nursing colleagues in the near future.