Download Press release - Austria Center Vienna

Vienna, 10 March 2015
14th International St. Gallen Breast Cancer Congress on its way to
Vienna in 2015
Chance to forge even stronger ties between Austria and Switzerland
From 18-21 March around 3,500 doctors from all over the world will meet at the
Austria Center Vienna for the 14th international St. Gallen Breast Cancer
Conference. International standards for clinical practice worldwide will be laid
down at a consensus meeting at the end of the event. Meanwhile, a series of
joint projects is helping to bring Austrian and Swiss researchers closer
together.
With around 1.7 million new cases diagnosed each year, breast cancer is the world’s most
common tumour disease among women. In Austria the number of cases is increasing all the
time, affecting some 5,000 women each year, with Switzerland reporting similar rates.
Austrian women have a one in eight chance of contracting breast cancer at some point in
their lives. At the same time, advances in diagnosis and medical therapies have significantly
cut mortality rates over the past 20 years. Four out of five patients diagnosed in Austria now
make a full recovery, and Swiss statistics paint a comparable picture. This success comes
courtesy of the relentless march of clinical breast cancer research.
St. Gallen – breast cancer research pioneers right from the start
The Medical Oncology and Breast Center at the Kantonspital St. Gallen Canton Hospital and
the ZeTuP St. Gallen Tumour and Breast Centre in Switzerland have been focusing on the
successful initial treatment of breast cancer for many years. They were among the first
centres in the world, alongside the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, to study this
particular disease in this level of detail. “It was this ability to think ahead that led to the
initiation of the St. Gallen Breast Cancer Conference in 1982, which started out taking place
once every three years and then every other year,” explained Congress Co-President Prof.
Hansjörg Senn who is also head of the ZeTuP St.Gallen, and vice president of the St. Gallen
Oncology Conferences foundation.
Austrian breast cancer research leading the way
Austria is also a leading voice in international breast cancer research thanks to the activities
of the Austrian Breast & Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), which has monitored
more than 25,000 patients in clinical studies over the course of the past three decades.
Currently around 3,000 Austrian women are participating in the programme. “Given its
relatively small size, Austria plays a disproportionately important role in international breast
cancer research. This was one of the reasons behind the decision to relocate the St. Gallen
Breast Cancer Congress to Vienna,” explained Prof. Michael Gnant, head of the University
Clinic for Surgery, director of the breast health centre in Vienna and president of the ABCSG.
Like Senn, he is a Co-Chair of the St. Gallen Breast Cancer conference.
Solidarity among small countries
The St. Gallen Breast Cancer conference is an important step on the road to establishing
even closer ties between experts in Switzerland and Austria. Prof. Gnant has already been
appointed as an external consultant to the Swiss breast cancer research group. One of the
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aims of the conference is to discuss concrete cross-border projects such as breast cancer
treatment for older women – an area barely covered by clinical studies to date – as well as
the potential for collaboration between operation technicians. “We want to set joint focuses
and coordinate research activities more closely to give us a stronger standing on the
international stage. This is a major challenge for both the Austrian and Swiss breast cancer
research groups due to a combination of differences in political structures and scarcity of
financial resources,” Prof. Senn explained.
Pooling resources is a logical development given the increasingly specific nature of the
findings made in molecular biology. “We are now able to better understand breast cancer
and its different progressions, which allows us to treat this tumour disease on a case by case
basis. The findings have also led to the establishment of multiple, smaller, research groups.
And cross-border collaboration is essential if we are to retain our place at the international
top table,” Prof. Gnant added. Austria is already conducted various study projects with the
Breast International Group and Transatlantic Alliance.
St. Gallen Breast Cancer Congress sets treatment standards
By focusing on early diagnosis and curative initial treatment, the congress shows its
commitment to effective long-term recovery for breast cancer patients. While other
international breast cancer conferences are confined to presenting the results of new studies,
the biennial St. Gallen Breast Cancer Congress doubles up as one of the world’s leading
oncological knowledge exchanges thanks to the therapeutic consensus meeting at the end of
the event. Around 70 highly respected international breast cancer experts will come together
on Saturday 21 March to discuss the relevance of the latest scientific findings for clinical
practice and define international breast cancer treatment guidelines for the next two years.
This approach means that the advances discussed at the St. Gallen Breast Cancer Congress
are soon felt by patients.
Gnant and Senn agree that it is essential for patients to understand the importance of early
recognition and treatment for the effective treatment of breast cancer. Measures include
preventative care such as women checking their breasts regularly and mammograms every
one or two years, depending on their individual risk profile. “If breast cancer is caught at an
early stage, there are very good treatments available, and it can even be cured,” Senn
concluded. The guidelines issued by the St. Gallen Breast Cancer Congress are constantly
updated to reflect the very latest scientific findings and widely publicised, significantly helping
to improve treatment outcomes.
St. Gallen Breast Cancer Conference at the Austria Center Vienna for the first time
Having played out in eastern Switzerland for the past 12 years, the biennial St. Gallen Breast
Cancer Conference has since outgrown its original venue, with delegate numbers
consistently reaching 3,000-4,000. The time had come to find a new destination and location
for the respected international medical conference. Thanks to its flexible layouts, the Austria
Center Vienna was a front runner from the start – particularly as the capital is well placed to
offer plenty of additional space if the event keeps on growing at this rate.
“It is a major honour for us to host the St. Gallen Breast Cancer Congress, which is a flagship
international scientific get-together. Our overarching goal is to offer participants an ideal
setting for knowledge transfer, as well as the right atmosphere for digital and face-to-face
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networking. To achieve this, our conference centre and service partners all pull together in
the same direction,” explained Susanne Baumann-Söllner Managing Director of the Austria
Center Vienna.
About the Austria Center Vienna
The Austria Center Vienna is operated by Internationales Amtssitz- und Konferenzzentrum
Wien, Aktiengesellschaft (IAKW-AG), which is also responsible for maintaining the Vienna
International Centre (VIC). The Austria Center Vienna is Austria’s largest conference centre,
with 24 halls, 180 offices and meeting rooms, and some 42,000 square metres of event
space (including 22,000 square metres of exhibition space), and is one of the top players on
the international conference circuit. IAKW-AG and the Austria Center Vienna are headed by
Chief Executive Officer Susanne Baumann-Söllner. www.acv.at.
Contact
IAKW-AG – Austria Center Vienna
Claudia Reis
Press Officer
St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference
Dr. Thomas Ferber
Media, conference registration and information
Tel:
+43 (0)1 26069-331
Email: [email protected]
www.acv.at
Tel: +41 (0)79 430 3735
[email protected]
www.oncoconferences.ch
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