From the November 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

Annual oration in radiation oncology
Prostate cancer: Improving the flow of research
Wednesday 1:30-2:45 p.m. Colleen A. Lawton, M.D., of Milwaukee

Prostate cancer for men, like breast cancer for women, is the second-leading cause of cancer death in the U.S. This fact alone should cause nationwide concern and result in a push for improved screening and treatment for men plagued with this disease. Yet over the past three decades we have seen screening with PSA come and go and treatment for localized disease improve, but at a relative snail's pace.



Treatment for locally advanced disease has seen progress, but the tempo is sluggish and adoption of the advances not universal. Recently, there has been a large influx of treatment options for metastatic patients which, of course, is progress, but in the end these patients will likely die of their disease. The goal of this presentation will be to review what we have learned from prostate cancer research over the past three decades. This will include a review of the research on imaging for accurate staging, in addition to research on screening and treatment options. We will look at where we have succeeded and where much work still needs to be done. Finally, we will explore opportunities to identify what needs to be done to help increase the flow of research, so as to brighten the future for prostate cancer patients.

RSNA/AAPM symposium: Precision imaging in medicine
Thursday 1:30-2:45 p.m.
Moderator
Paul E. Kinahan, Ph.D., of Seattle
Learning Objectives:

1) To learn what the Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) is, and how it is evolving as a national program. 2) To learn the current and potential impacts of the PMI on radiology through quantitative imaging and a focus on outcomes.
3) To learn how radiology can support the PMI through advances in big data analysis and supporting therapy.

Precision medicine: Optimizing imaging strategies
Thursday 1:30-2:45 p.m. Daniel C. Sullivan, M.D., of Durham, N.C.
Learning Objectives:

During the past two decades, the molecular characterization of disease has revealed that each patient is likely to have a unique combination of genotypic, epigenetic and phenotypic profiles for their disease. In other words, no two patients with lung cancer or diabetes will have exactly the same molecular profile for their diseases, despite the fact that we currently give them the same clinical diagnosis. Biomarkers - both specimen and imaging - play an increasingly important role in health care as physicians try to determine the most appropriate therapy for any patient's molecularly-unique version of disease. This concept is variously called targeted, personalized, or precision medicine.

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