The attendees at this workshop
On June 15th, the 2nd Meeting of the Northern Spain Working Group on Head and Neck Cancer took place at the Biodonostia HRI.
At the event, organised by ENT specialists, pathologists and oncologists from the Donostia University Hospital together with researchers from the Biodonostia HRI Molecular Oncology Group, participants provided a multidisciplinary vision looking at the medical, biological and pharmaceutical industry aspects of advances made in the research and treatment of head and neck cancer.
Head and neck cancer is sixth most common type of cancer. The majority of these carcinomas affect the larynx, and Spain is the country with the highest incidence of this kind of cancer in the world. It is very closely related to tobacco smoking, and in recent years a relationship has been demonstrated to exist between oropharyngeal cancers and the human papillomavirus. Despite the continued advances made in the different kinds of treatment (surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy), the majority of cases are still diagnosed at advanced stages and the survival rate of these patients has improved very little in the last 20 years. Treating these patients is sometimes involves mutilating surgery which causes important dysfunctions. For all of the above reasons, we work together to develop more effective diagnosis and treatment protocols.
The workshop had the objectives of explaining the advances made in translational research by the different members of the working group, strengthening already established collaborations and creating new collaborations and synergies. The event was therefore attended by expert speakers from different disciplines, such as otorhinolaryngology, pathology and oncology, all of whom presented the results of their latest research. Among them, Juan Pablo Rodrigo Tapia, a Consultant in Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) at the Asturias Central University Hospital (ACUH), ENT Professor and Director of the Surgery and Medical-Surgical Specialities Department at Oviedo University, whose group belongs to CIBERONC, research group in oncology at the Carlos III Health Institute; Xavier León Vintró, Director of the Laryngology and Cervical Pathology Section at the Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona, member of the consolidated research group Grup d’Oncogènesis i Antitumorals (GOA) and of the CIBER-BBN Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine research group; and Dr. Charles Lawrie, professor at Ikerbasque, Head of the Oncology Department and leader of the Biodonostia HRI Molecular Oncology Group.
The event was attended by clinicians from the north of Spain, Navarre, Aragon, Asturias, Catalonia, and particularly the Basque Country.
