SGO Member Reflection: Key Takeaways from IGCS 2023 Annual Global Meeting | Susan L. Zweizig, MD
Susan L. Zweizig, MD, SGO/FWC Communications Committee Member, University of Massachusetts Medical Center
The 2023 International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS) Annual Global Meeting took place in Seoul, South Korea from November 5-7, 2023. The meeting featured engaging plenary sessions, reviews of seminal studies, debates, posters and workshops, and it was wonderful to see fellow SGO members on-site.
A memorable opening ceremony included IGCS President Keichi Fujiwara, MD, PhD, playing bassoon and former IGCS and SGO president Robert Coleman, MD, playing the guitar in an amazing duet of Hey Jude by the Beatles. Pictured below.
Dr. Fujiwara plead for physicians to take action to advocate for and educate themselves about palliative and supportive care, asking that all members take a pledge to communicate with all patients under their care about their palliative and supportive care needs from the time of diagnosis onward and not as a last resort. This was a major theme of the meeting, echoed also in the presidential speaker address provided by Steven Connor, PhD, Executive Director of the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance.
Several exciting plenary sessions and seminal abstracts were presented at the meeting. I found the following trial results and related discussions to be particularly exciting:
· Sarah Ferguson, MD, University of Toronto/Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, shared the analysis of the SHAPE trial which demonstrated excellent outcomes and less morbidity in treatment of early cervical cancer with simple hysterectomy
· Rachel Grisham, MD (pictured at left), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, provided an analysis of the RAMP201 trial, showing unprecedented 45% response rates in heavily pretreated low grade serous carcinoma with combination oral agents a RAF/MEK clamp plus FAK inhibitor
· Mary McCormack, MD, University College London Hospitals, presented the INTERLACE trial data, showing that six weeks of weekly carboplatin and paclitaxel chemotherapy before standard chemoradiation improves overall survival in locally
advanced cervix cancer.
· Tae-Wook Kong, MD, Ajou University Medical Center, presented data from the GORILLA-1003 trial which evaluated minimally invasive surgery (MIC) verses laparotomy in cervix cancer less than or equal to two cm, and advocated for careful preoperative imaging and avoidance of intracorporeal colpotomy during MIS
· Several rousing debates regarding open versus MIS surgery in interval debulking surgery for ovary cancer, which provided insight into surgical controversies.
Interested in seeing additional photos and other takeaways from the meeting? Find more on my X profile: https://twitter.com/SusanZweizig and SGO President Angeles Alvarez Secord’s X profile: https://twitter.com/AngelesSecord.
