Attending the ESA 26th Annual Meeting
Dr Hayley Fenton, reflects on her attendance at the ESA's 26th Annual Meeting in Madrid.
This month I presented my work to surgeons from the European Surgical Association (ESA), one of Europe’s most prestigious surgical organisations, at the 26th Annual Meeting in Madrid, Spain (17th-18th May). The meeting provides an opportunity to present and discuss research around the most current topics related to surgery and surgical specialties, including studies on outcomes, practice of surgery and ethical and other issues that affect its practice.
I gave a talk, alongside the ESA sponsor of the work Professor Peter Lodge, showing that there is still geographical variation in access to liver surgery for patients whose colorectal cancer has spread (metastasised) to the liver. The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines recommend liver resection as the treatment of choice for patients with liver metastases where possible however there is a persistent concern that some patients are being denied access to potentially curative treatments. One of the key findings from the work is that the likelihood of receiving liver surgery is higher for patients who have their primary bowel tumour resected in a hospital with an onsite specialist liver surgical team. Discussion centered around the importance of patients being referred to a specialist liver team and how the surgical community can ensure early involvement of liver surgeons, when deciding treatment for patients with secondary tumours in the liver.
This work has been accepted for publication in the November edition of the Annals of Surgery. The next ESA meeting will take place in Cologne, May 2020.