Surgeons, medical oncologists and radiation oncologists gathered in Lugano, Switzerland, last week for the first European Multidisciplinary Conference in Thoracic Oncology (EMCTO), with the goal of furthering clinical and scientific cooperation among disciplines to help in the fight against lung cancer.

Over the past five years, researchers have established that for patients with operable cancer, surgery followed by chemotherapy can result in good outcomes. Now, large clinical trials are beginning to evaluate that adding molecular targeted therapies can further improve the chance of a successful outcome for some patients. In addition, doctors are now attempting to refine their treatments based on the clinical characteristics of individual patients, and based on the molecular profile of their tumor.

"More sophisticated and complex treatments require more cooperation," said Robert Pirker, MD, from the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, co-chair of the conference's scientific committee. "That is one of the reasons why we have organized this conference. We believe the result will be better outcomes for lung cancer patients."

The EMCTO Conference is co-organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO), the European Society of Thoracic Surgeons (ESTS) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS).

ESMO is a non-profit organization which promotes medical oncology and a multidisciplinary approach to cancer treatment.