Programme

Overview: Drawing from the spirit of ESTRO’s theme 'Transformative innovation through partnership', we will explore how innovation is financed, whether academically or commercially, through to the point of use in the clinic. By considering the cost of research and development and outlining the funding that is required, we will better understand how money flows through the system and appreciate the role each participant has as we collaborate to improve patient care. Short presentations by the various stakeholders in the innovation pipeline will be followed by a panel discussion, giving substantial time to questions from the floor.

Overview: Will climate change impact cancer care? How big is the carbon footprint from radiotherapy? What can I do to make radiotherapy more sustainable? If you think these questions are important, we welcome you to join this symposium to get more insights. You will learn about potential disruptions in radiotherapy treatment continuity caused by extreme weather events and their potential effects on patient outcome. Also, health care – including radiotherapy – is a source of carbon footprint. This symposium will give you an overview of the most important contributors to the radiotherapy carbon footprint as well as an introduction to effective mitigations strategies. Finally, there will be a discussion about why and how the healthcare system can transform towards sustainability – e.g. through value-based healthcare, innovative solutions, research and education.

Overview: Artificial intelligence is transforming radiation oncology, driving advances in fields such as medical imaging, tumor segmentation, and decision support. This session brings together experts at the forefront of AI applications, showcasing the latest innovations in these fields. Kareem Abdul Wahid will open the session with insights into how data science competitions accelerate AI advancements in radiation oncology, with a focus on the HNTS-MRG 2024 Challenge for MRI-guided tumor segmentation. He will discuss how benchmarking competitions accelerate the development of deep learning models, highlighting key takeaways on architecture choices, ensembling strategies, and training methodologies. Matteo Maspero will then explore the role of physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) in synthetic CT (sCT) generation from MRI. He will explain how incorporating physical priors enhances AI model performance, discuss applications in quantitative MRI and radiotherapy planning, and examine future potential for expanding physics-informed models in medical imaging. Expanding the discussion to broader applications, Ana Maria Barragan Montero will provide a comprehensive overview of foundation models in radiotherapy, discussing their advantages over traditional architectures like UNet. She will explore applications in medical imaging, multimodal models, and address critical challenges in model trustworthiness, reliability, and sustainability. Finally, Florian Putz will showcase the emerging role of large language models (LLMs) in radiation oncology, from decision support and automated documentation to multimodal AI-powered research tools. He will highlight LLM integration with oncology information systems, workflow automation, and privacy-preserving AI solutions for clinical applications. This symposium provides a cohesive journey from data-driven AI innovations to foundational AI principles and real-world clinical applications. Attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of how the latest AI advancements are transforming radiation oncology and shaping its future.

Overview: The role of the radiation therapist (RTT) is continually evolving with technological developments and in response to the complexities of care that cancer patients need and deserve. Combined treatment regimens and the ability to safely escalate radiation doses means the patient pathway requires multidisciplinary expertise. This session reviews our RTT changing scope of practice and how we, as experts in our field, can drive our professional development and recognition. The transformation from a newly graduated clinical RTT to roles that encompass expanded and advanced practice requires knowledge, personal growth, support and leadership. The 4 speakers will share insights into our evolving scope covering applications in management, research, and explore opportunities for the future direction of our RTT practice. This engaging session will be interactive: the audience are encouraged to ask questions and share their own experiences within the panel discussion.

Overview: This symposium will explore the critical role of radiotherapy in palliative oncology care. Topics will focus on the potential and challenges of radiotherapy in the end-of-life care in the context of clinical trials. In addition, speakers will dive into the literature and discuss the interplay between palliative radiotherapy and immunotherapy. This session will include an insight in the advances in techniques and technologies in the setting of palliative radiotherapy as well as value-based healthcare. Finally, we will discuss the results of the BONY-M trial. This is a must-attend session that will provide a state-of-the-art overview of patient-centered management of advanced cancer.