UPDATE
n°163 | June 2022
In this issue:

New team to take Europa Uomo forward

General Assembly held in Leusden, the Netherlands
20 Jun 2022

Long waits for men with prostate cancer highlighted

Focus on men’s health this week
16 Jun 2022

Financial stigma against cancer patients is 'unacceptable'

European Commissioner calls for fairness from insurers and banks
1 Jun 2022

The most challenging issue for me was accepting I had cancer

Tom Hope explains why active surveillance proved the right choice for him.

Prostate Research and Treatment

New section in EAU guidelines for male urinary incontinence

In this EAU podcast, Dr. Vasileios Sakalis, a member of the EAU Guidelines Panel for Male Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms, reports on the new section in the guidelines relating to male urinary incontinence.

Listen here.

Treatment considerations in advanced prostate cancer

In this video, Prof. Bertrand Tombal provides a European perspective highlighting prostate cancer data we have seen so far this year starting with the datafrom the ARASENS and PEACE-1 trials. Dr. Tombal’s discussion highlights key points for the community to focus on including the messages around maximal androgen blockade and PARP inhibitors.

Europa Uomo News

Europa Uomo, a member of the PAG of the European Society of Radiology

The European Society of Radiology (ESR) is an organisation of medical professionals involved in diagnostic imaging or therapeutic areas that utilise ionising radiation.

In 2013 the ESR board decided to create a patient advisory group (PAG) to provide patient viewpoints on their work and daily practice. Europa Uomo Board member Erik Briers has been a member of the ESR PAG since its creation, assisting with the creation of a questionnaire on patient satisfaction that has been used in several hospital radiology departments. The ESR PAG is involved in the annual radiology congress providing presentations on, for example, communication with patients, what patients want to know and need to know.

This year the ESR PAG was tasked with creating a patient programme for the congress, a session on the early detection of prostate cancer and lung cancer, where Erik Briers will provide the patient viewpoint.

 

Europa Uomo represented on the EAU Guidelines Committee on Prostate Cancer

Europa Uomo was represented on the EAU Guidelines Committee on prostate cancer, via the participation of Board member Erik Briers.

The EAU evidence-based guidelines are formulated in Europe, but are influential globally and  are used in countries such as Argentina and China.

The prostate cancer guidelines are reviewed every year to reflect changes in science. Patient representatives work with other members, provide a patient perspective and provide an  honest opinion in discussions. When discussing the benefits and side effects of a treatment, patient representatives contribute their own experiences and other patients they have met and talked to.

 

This year EAU is looking for a second patient representative to sit on the prostate cancer guidelines committee. There will be a call on the EAU website with the requirements.

You can find the EAU guidelines on prostate cancer here.

 

 

Europa Uomo's successful General Assembly 2022

Europa Uomo held its annual General Assembly in Leusden, the Netherlands from 9th to 11th June. forty-six representatives from 23 European countries attended the meeting.

The Dutch patient organization, ProstaatKankerStichting (PKS), celebrated its 25th anniversary with a fantastic donor’s day in the AFAS theater in Leusden where the presentations were simultaneously translated for our EUomo members. Highlights were the presentations of Prof. Monique Roobol and Prof. Hein Van Poppel on “early detection of prostate cancer” and our own Past-Chairman André Deschamps on the EUPROMS study. All these heavy presentations were concluded with a piano performance and a drink.

At the Europa Uomo General Assembly on Saturday, June 11, 2022., the following points were discussed:

  • Accounts and projected outcome 2021 were approved
  • Budget 2022 and 2023 were approved
  • Discharge of the Board was given

The five Board candidates received three minutes to present themselves to the Europa Uomo representatives. After the vote, Günther Carl and Ioannis Vanezos were re-elected for a second term and Steven Lerys (France) as a Board members. It took a second and third voting round for Paulius Rakstys (Lithuania) to receive the majority of the votes to be the fourth elected Board member.

After the announcement of these votes, there was a short adjournment of the GA for the new Board to meet and allocate the different functions.

Günther Carl (Germany) was elected as the new Chairman, Erik Briers (Belgium) and Nils SjØholt (Norway) as the new Vice-Chairmen. Will Jansen will be the Secretary for his last year On the Board assisted by new Board member Steven Lerys. Ioannis Vanezos will stay on as treasurer. Cosimo Pieri and Tania Estapé will be Board members responsible for our active surveillance strategy. Paulius Rakstys will be a Board member with connection to the East-European countries.

André Deschamps will be still connected to the Board as Past-President without voting rights advising the Board for at least one year.

Next year’s General Assembly will be in Cyprus from 25th to 28th May 2023.

The GA ended with the closing remarks of the new Chairman. He thanked André for the job he had done on the Board over the last seven years and said that he is excited to work on the heritage of André. Günther is looking forward to see everybody next year in Cyprus.

After that a group picture was made in the hotel lobby.

The Saturday afternoon was filled with a super social event. We visited Futureland in Rotterdam, one of the largest container terminals in the world, where we saw the huge windmills lying on the quay, followed by a nice boat trip to the ports of Rotterdam with beautiful blue skies full of sunshine and nice views of the skylines of Rotterdam. The day was ended with a goodbye dinner in the Zalmhuis with a nice view on the river.

Europa Uomo would like to thank PKS for all its organisation and in particular Harry and Irma Boogh for all their efforts to make this a fantastic GA weekend after three years of virtual meetings.

Items of Interest

Webinars on active surveillance

As the time difference with the US is always difficult for evening webinars, all the previous webinars of ASPI (Active Surveillance Prostate International) were recorded and can be viewed here.

 

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