Now’s the time to ask your Oncologist to find answers

: Getting down to business 2009 Flickr

World’s Oncologists will meet at AACR 101st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Everyone likes a little holiday – especially if it is allied to attending a working conference where their peers will be meeting to discuss latest developments in their field of work.

This April the AmericanAssociation for Cancer Research will be hosting over 17,000 specialists from around the world at a meeting to highlight breakthroughs in cancer treatment, emerging therapies and molecular science.

What’s that to do with you?

If your Oncologist is going, you can ask them to ask around about anything that is worrying you.

If they are not going, papers will be published that showcase latest developments, which could affect your treatment.

The programme will cover:

emerging therapies in the hard-to-treat cancers, including lung and pancreatic;
basic science on the role of microRNAs and cancer stem cells;
the effects of socioeconomic factors on cancer prognosis;
new data on ways to prevent cancer before it starts;
practice-changing diagnostic methods;
the role of infectious bacteria and AIDS in cancer development.

When I was searching for help with handling side effects, that were just brushed aside by doctors in UK, the American hospitals were incredibly helpful.

My Oncologist goes to meetings in the US, saying they are the only ones worth attending – don’t know if this is because although French are acknowledged to have best cancer treatment in world, as they speak French, rest of world prefers to talk English (much to their disgust) and so there isn’t so much interaction.

It is well-known that the most productive part of any conference is the meeting and chat in the bar – that’s where the ideas are mulled over and eventually lead to ground-breaking work.

I have nothing against doctors attending these conferences. I have worked at numerous top medical conferences and can vouch for the sometimes revolutionary outcomes, which have been of immense benefit to medicine and patients. But if the NHS is paying for your medic to attend – make sure you get benefit out of it too.

More info is available on www.aacr.org/program

You can follow the meeting on Twitter.