Graz: A City of Precision – DEGRO/DGMP Annual Meeting

Recently, the German-speaking radiation oncology community made its way to Graz – over 130 experts responded to the call of the annual meeting of the DEGRO and DGMP Working Group on Radiosurgery and Stereotaxy, jointly hosted by the Austrian sister societies ÖGRO and ÖGMP and locally organised by Thomas Brunner and Peter Winkler of the Medical University of Graz. On the agenda: uro-oncological tumours, primarily prostate and renal cell carcinoma.

The event kicked off with a special kind of appetiser: a pointed discussion on the interactions between stereotactic high-precision radiotherapy (SBRT), presented by Daniel Bürgy from Mannheim, and immunotherapy, presented by oncologist Philipp Jost from Graz.

Then came the real showstopper: renal cell carcinoma, long regarded as a radiation-resistant problem child of radiation oncology, is being re-evaluated through SBRT. With local control rates of up to 100%, this tumour suddenly finds itself at the very top of the list of indications – a genuine paradigm shift that, backed by strong evidence, is confidently establishing itself within the new self-image of radiation oncology.

Things became controversial and entertaining when it came to prostate cancer: robotic surgery (Sacha Ahyai, Graz) versus SBRT (Zoltan Löcsei, Graz), brachytherapy (Ute Ganswindt, Innsbruck) versus stereotactic radiotherapy (Simon Spohn, Freiburg) – the discussions took on a distinctly duel-like character, without anyone having to concede defeat in the end. Rather, it became clear that competition between methods invigorates scientific discourse.

The event concluded on a convivial note with a networking evening just a few metres from Graz City Hall – followed by the working group meetings of the clinicians and physicists on Saturday morning.