Cornelis van de Velde, MD, PhD, of Leiden University Medical Center, discusses the International Watch & Wait database, established to track evidence on organ-preserving strategies in patients with rectal cancer (Abstract 521).
Mark Talamonti, MD, of NorthShore University Health System, discusses the technical prerequisites for minimally invasive surgery in pancreatic cancers and the potential benefits to patients.
Scott Kopetz, MD, of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses study findings on irinotecan and cetuximab with or without vemurafenib in BRAF-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer (Abstract 520).
Cynthia L. Sears, MD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, summarizes her keynote talk on microbes, microbiota, and colon cancer. Next-generation sequencing combined with biologic studies suggests that most colorectal cancer cases have specific microbiome associations.
Karyn A. Goodman, MD, of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, discusses initial study findings on PET scan–directed combined-modality therapy for esophageal cancer (Abstract 1).
Sarah E. Hoffe, MD, of the Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses the controversial role of radiation in the treatment of pancreatic cancer, recent advances in delivering short courses of high-dose stereotactic body radiation therapy, and how best to integrate this new modality in borderline and locally advanced disease.
