SAVE THE DATE: 2021 VIRTUAL SPAEN Conference 22 April - 24 April 2021
While we cannot be together in person next year, we are excited to have the first ever virtual SPAEN Conference. Not even a global pandemic can dampen the commitment to bring together our SPAEN member organisations to improve the lives of peope diagnosed with GIST and sarcomas.
The official invitation with a detailed conference program will follow soon.
PLEASE SAVE THE DATE:
Virtual SPAEN Annual Conference 2021 22 April - 24 April 2021 (via Zoom) We plan to have 3 half days from 2pm - ca. 6pm CET every day.
Any questions? Please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Learning, teaching, sharing and a great sense of community
SPAEN Annual Conference 2019 - Video
Once again, the community of patient advocates for sarcomas, GIST and desmoids have come together for another successful SPAEN Annual Conference from February 1-3, 2019. This year, Greece was the host country, currently establishing a Greek Sarcoma Group and hopefully a patient advocacy group. Dr. Vasilis Ramfidis welcomed all participants on behalf of the Greek expert community with great hospitality and warmth to Greece’s capital Athens.
The three conference days were full of learning about medical topics ranging from pathology to novel therapy options in GIST, sarcomas and desmoids, bone sarcomas and novel developments in radiotherapy and proton beam therapy, among a lot of others.
But also clinical trials and understanding them as well as Quality of Life were huge and widely discussed topics. Furthermore, capacity building about “Working with pharma”, “Data opportunities” or “Social Media” were important parts of the meeting. More to come in our conference report!
Also always worth to be part of such a community is the talk before and after sessions about similar or completely different problems, projects, good or bad experiences and brainstorming new ideas. 55 patient advocates, among them around 15 joining the SPAEN Conference for the first time, 20 experts as well as pharma representatives took this opportunity to talk, discuss and exchange ideas and experiences – a great way to learn from each other and to evolve the sarcoma community.
About the SPAEN Annual Conferences
Since 2010 SPAEN is holding an annual conference bringing together sarcoma groups, experts, pharma and research from all over Europe and around the globe. In the last years a growing number of participants demonstrated the increasing interest in the sarcoma field. Approx. 80 participants from over 25 countries joined the three-day meeting in Athens, Greece.
Any questions? Please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Pathology
Pathology is the study of diseases - or more specifically, of the ways that diseases change cells, tissues, and organs. Doctors who do this kind of work are called pathologists. They work towards identifying the cells the cancer originated in, but also towards exact morphological and pathological identifications, and they also contribute to the prognostic assessment. Correct treatment always depends on the kind of cancer. Pathology therefore plays a crucial part for further treatment strategies.
GIST
Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) affects the digestive tract or nearby structures within the abdomen. The most common location is the stomach. GI stromal tumor, or GIST cancer, is a sarcoma.