Highlights from CARO-COMP 2013
Thank you to Dr. Stephen Breen and Mary Hooey for this article.
Photo credit: Meta Antolin, Metagrafix Design
The CARO-COMP 2013 was held in the Hilton Bonaventure in Montreal in late September. This was the second time that COMP has held a joint meeting with CARO (previously in Toronto, 2007). The theme of the meeting was Innovations in Imaging, which appealed to COMP and CARO members alike. There were 620 registered delegates for the meeting, and with about 100 more commercial exhibitors and staff, the number of attendees made for an energetic, vibrant two-and-a-half days. A quick scan of the proffered presentation topics – photon interaction cross-sections to oligometastasis, MRI perfusion to cancer survivorship, radiochromic dosimeters to zebrafish xenotransplantation – shows the immense range of interests in the radiation oncology and medical physics communities in Canada. And whether it was in oral presentation sessions, in meeting rooms, or – perhaps most vitally – in the hallways, the excitement of inter-professional discussion was evident throughout the meeting.
Prior to the meeting’s opening, Wednesday was filled with educational activities for radiation oncology residents, radiation oncologists, and medical physicists. Sixty physicists learned about imaging physics activities at McGill and Montreal Neurological Institute in the evening’s COMP continuing education session.
For CARO, COMP, and the Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine, their annual general meetings this year took on extra significance due to the new federal Canada Not-for-profit Corporation Act. The membership of all three organizations agreed to the changes in governance put forth by their Boards of Directors to comply with the Act prior to the deadline of October, 2014.
Physicists and radiation oncologists met together in four plenary sessions. The CARO-COMP Theme symposium highlighted advances in imaging in PET (Dr. Francois Benard, UBC), CT (Dr. Jeff Siewerdsen, Johns Hopkins), and MR (Dr. Cynthia Menard, UTDRO). Dr. Marcel van Herk (NKI), the CARO lecturer, spoke to the question of whether we have reached the limits of accuracy in modern radiotherapy. The Gordon Richards Award winner, Dr. Tom Pickles of BCCA, spoke about the history of particle radiotherapy, in his lecture, “The Untold Story of Particle Therapy: Deceit and Triumph”. And Dr. John Aldrich, the COMP Gold Medal Winner, reviewed his experience in writing his book on the first century of radiology in Canada. On Saturday morning, Drs. Michael Milosevic (UTDRO) and Tommy Knoös (University of Lund) presented the annual CARO-ESTRO Symposium, which this year reviewed European and Canadian approaches to improving quality and safety in Radiation Oncology.
With both societies meeting together, there were parallel proffered paper sessions totaling seventy-two papers. The Resident/Young Investigator competition highlighted the top twenty physics and oncology abstracts by graduate students, residents, and fellows, and, as in previous years, was the scientific highlight of the meeting. Over 200 posters were presented, making for a very exciting and interactive poster hall. Many attendees remained for the last day of the meeting – always a challenge for the organizers – to join one of the many workshops on Saturday morning and to hear the Canadian Brachytherapy Symposium, delivered by Dr. Alvaro Martinez.
Due to the timing of the CARO-COMP and ASTRO meetings, the organizers were concerned about attendance by our industrial partners. As it turned out, the commercial exhibitors were a key component of the success of the meeting, and many were very pleased to meet with the oncology and physics communities concurrently, rather than at separate meetings.
The social activities were very well attended. The opening reception was held at the Galerie MX, where attendees were surrounded by contemporary art and architecture. The CROF Fun Run and Walk took place along the scenic Lachine Canal under cloudless skies on Friday morning, and the Ruelle des Fortifications was the site of the conference awards dinner which was attended by 350 radiation oncologists and medical physicists.
The size and complexity of the joint meeting stretches the capacity of COMP and CARO to sponsor this event. However, as in 2007, the diligence of the organizing committee, the contributions of the invited speakers, the support of the vendors, and most importantly, the participation of so many COMP and CARO members, made CARO-COMP 2013 a tremendous success.
CARO-COMP 2013 Award Winners
Best Abstract in Science and Applied Technology
Jennifer Kwan
Development and Characterization of Novel Uroporphyrinogen Decarboxylase (UROD) Inhibitors For Cancer Therapy
Best Abstract in Clinical and Population-based Oncology
Peter Chung
Phase II Study of Low Dose CT Imaging for Detection of Relapse During Surveillance In Stage I Testicular Germ Cell Tumours
Best Resident Oral Presentation in Brachytherapy
Negin Shahid
Late Toxicity and Health-Related Quality of Life in Prostate Cancer Patients Treated With Single Fraction High-Dose-Rate Brachytherapy And Hypofractionated External Beam Radiotherapy
COMP Oral Presentation Award (1st place)
Robert Weersink
Displaying 3D Radiation Doses On Endoscopic Video for Therapeutic Assessment and Surgical Guidance
Book Prizes Category: Radiation Therapy
Brian Liszewski
Peer Review in Radiation Oncology: Who, What, When, Where, How, But Why?
FCOMP Recipients
Jean-Pierre Bissonnette
CARO President Award: Certificate for CARO Outstanding Commitment Award
Mary Hooey