25 – 28 July 2018 | Brisbane 

The 10^th Skin Cancer Summit & Masterclasses saw international thought leaders in skin cancer medicine converge in Brisbane to collaborate with GPs from across Australia. The 2018 program once again covered a broad range of topics relevant to doctors working in primary care skin cancer medicine. The Masterclasses focused on core day-to-day material, as a way to reinforce and extend knowledge. The two-day Summit opened up new areas of study, enquiry and interest.

      

 

Dermoscopy Masterclass: 25 July 2018

The first Masterclass focused on diagnosis through dermoscopy and was run by Prof Ash Marghoob (USA) and Dr Aimilios Lallas (Greece).

Dr Lallas used the concept of false positive and false negative diagnoses to reinforce our diagnostic accuracy. Clearly, as morphology overlaps the distinction between what is a cancer, and what is not, can provide confusion.

This broad concept was beautifully extended by Prof Marghoob through his presentation on difficult to diagnose melanomas. As we all know, the easy ones are easy. It is the hard-to-diagnose that we risk missing!

The session then moved into important body sites – the face and acral areas, which are important because the morphology of lesions on these sites is different from morphology on other sites. If we don’t understand this and know how the appearances differ, then we can’t accurately recognise cancers.

Our presenters then extended these important concepts to difficult to diagnose non-melanoma skin cancers, as it is not just melanomas that can be tricky. And, as always, we finished with a series of interactive cases.

 

Surgery Masterclass: 26 July 2018

The second Masterclass covered surgery of the ear. The ear, of course, is a common site for skin cancer because it is so exposed to solar damage. Ear surgery is important because cosmetic results are very visible to the patient and others. So, it is essential to get the surgery right, cure the cancer, and repair the defect as sympathetically as possible.

Dr Con Pappas and Dr Tony Azzi provided a comprehensive overview of how to prepare for and conduct surgery of the ear, across almost all imaginable lesions.

 

Summit: 27-28 July 2018

    

The Summit program is deliberately designed to be a mix of very practical, everyday material that supports our daily practice.

This year, key examples of these sessions were those on ‘effectiveness of dermoscopy’, ‘why we miss melanoma’, and ‘radiation oncology’. We also ran sessions that we hope will keep you and your patients safe, including ‘what interests the watchdog’ and ‘monitoring tips and traps’.

      

We deliberately moved into the future and sought to explore and speculate on what might be. It is clear that artificial intelligence is already with us, and yet most of us don’t really see what is happening and what might be coming. As educated and interested professionals, it is worth being aware of these trends.

We also like to keep you across what is happening outside clinical practice, in areas that are relevant to running your business. So, our sessions on how to run a successful business, and how others organise their own practices, are always very popular.

 

Skin Cancer Institute Gala Dinner

The Skin Cancer Summit closed with a Gala Dinner at the Queensland Cricketers’ Club. Hosted by the Skin Cancer Institute, the inaugural ‘White Out Skin Cancer’ Gala Dinner donated all proceeds to QIMR Berghofer. The delegates’ generosity and support will make a difference to many lives as we take a step closer to our vision of a world where nobody dies from skin cancer.

 

 

Skin Cancer Summit & Masterclasses

26 – 29 July 2017, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre

The 9^th Skin Cancer Summit and Masterclasses saw international thought leaders in skin cancer medicine converge in Brisbane to collaborate with GPs from across Australia.

Continue reading “[Review] Skin Cancer Summit and Masterclasses 2017” →