By Dr. Umberto Capitanio and Dr. Idir Ouzaid
The 36th Annual EAU Congress just ended. The scientific committee and all the persons involved in the European Association of Urology were able to host a completely virtual congress that brought together Europe’s largest network of urological experts from all around the globe. The comprehensive scientific programme included case discussions, debates, live surgery, state-of-the-art lectures, videos, and posters. Front-level research and notable developments were featured, and key opinion leaders convened to share their expertise. Despite the international crisis, we were able to expand our network and connect virtually with peers from around the world.
Regarding renal cell carcinoma (RCC), many sessions provided fantastic insights in the last developments and advances. Saturday was the day dedicated to kidney cancer. The day started with an interesting debate regarding the adjuvant setting and the breakthrough findings of the KEYNOTE 564 trial (Watch the interview with Prof. Necchi), Prof. Thomas Powles (GB) presented the key results in a Game Changing session and Dr. Alberto Breda (ES) discussed the main clinical implications. For the first time, pembrolizumab showed a potential benefit in terms of progression-free survival after surgery in high-risk non-metastatic RCC patients. With more mature data regarding the effect on overall survival coming up in the next months, this trial could lead to a key clinical change in our daily practice.
Then it was time for Plenary session 4 “Renal cancer: From localised to metastatic disease.” The session started with the Society of Urologic Oncology (SUO) lecture by Prof. W. Marston Linehan (US), who presented “The VHL kidney cancer gene: Discovery, oxygen sensing and therapy.” Afterwards, many key opinion leaders provided an update about different approaches to small renal masses. In the second part of the session, which focused on cT2 cancer, a shift towards more nephron-sparing surgery was discussed. Finally, Prof. George Thalmann (CH), Prof. Axel Bex (GB), and Dr. Ignacio Duran (ES) discussed the recent data in metastatic RCC, trying to assess the current role of nephrectomy in different areas of systemic therapy (Watch the interview with Dr. Ignacio Duran).
In the afternoon, much novel data was reported during dedicated poster sessions:
In conclusion, in these hard times the EAU was able to provide a fantastic, cutting-edge, virtual congress that will be remembered for the unfortunate general conditions but also for the incredible high level of scientific information provided. Also see https://eaucongress.uroweb.org/.
See you in Amsterdam in 2022!