ASGO 5th International Workshop on Gynecologic Oncology.

Published online Sep 11, 2018. https://doi.org/10.3802/jgo.2018.29.e101 ASGO 5th International Workshop on Gynecologic Oncology The 5th International Workshop of the Asian Society of Gynecologic Oncology (ASGO) was held in the Ajou University Hospital, Suwon, Korea on 24th to 25th August 2018. This meeting was convened in conjunction with the 12th Korean Society of Gynecologic Oncology (KSGO) workshop for young gynecologic oncologists. Two hundred fifty-seven participants from 15 countries/regions (Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and USA) attended the meeting (Table 1). Dr. Hee-Sug Ryu (Korea) served as the President. Following the 14th ASGO council meeting (Fig. 1), there were 41 presentations in 7 sessions and special sessions (the scientific program is shown in Tables 2 and 3). Fig. 1 The 14th Asian Society of Gynecologic Oncology council meeting. (from left to right) Hextan Ngan,1 Sarikapan Wilailak,2 Daisuke Aoki,3 Ikuo Konishi,4 Toshiharu Kamura,5 Hee-Sug Ryu,6 Soon-Beom Kang,7 Joo-Hyun Nam,8 Neerja Bhatla,9 Ting-Chang Chang,10 Dong Hoon Suh,11 Chunling Chen,12 Suk-Joon Chang,13 David Tan,14 Suresh Kumarasamy,15 Duk-Soo Bae,16 Nobuo Yaegashi,17 Kung-Liahng Wang,18 Seung-Cheol Kim,19 Andri Andrijono,20 Efren Domingo,21 Jiheum Paek,22 Rongyu Zang,23 and Jae-Weon Kim.24 Table 1 Registration by country/region Table 2 Program of ASGO 5th International Workshop on Gynecologic Oncology (day 1) Table 3 Program of ASGO 5th International Workshop on Gynecologic Oncology (day 2) The subject of the first session (A-1) was cervical cancer. Dr. Enomoto presented the high human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine effectiveness against vaccine-targeted infection in the Japanese national HPV immunization program using verified immunization data. He showed high vaccine effectiveness of the bivalent vaccine and significant cross-protection against pooled high-risk HPV types (31, 45, and 52). Dr. Li reviewed several controversial issues on radical trachelectomy including indications, fertility, use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and the role of laparoscopic radical trachelectomy. Dr. Kim gave lectures on Sedlis criteria in early cervical cancer. He aroused its critics regarding overall survival benefit and possible risk of overtreatment suggesting that we have not adequately or incompletely defined what population of patients would qualify to be a high-intermediate risk group. Dr. Kong presented the possible factors for poorer prognosis of early-stage cervical cancer treated with minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Three potential factors were circulating CO2 pneumoperitoneum, selection of optimal surgical candidates, and surgical technique including colpotomy approach. He concluded that MIS should be performed in optimal surgical candidates using vaginal colpotomy after CO2 evacuation. Dr. Shim gave a lecture on nodal staging surgery in locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC). Considering the true-positive and false-negative rate of para-arotic lymph node (PALN) metastasis in positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT), individualized nodal-staging surgery is essential in patients with LACC. He suggested decent risk stratification model using tumor size on magnetic resonance imaging and PALN status on PET/CT. In the second session (A-2), 5 topics on epithelial ovarian cancer were presented. Dr. Wang gave a lecture on endometriosis-associated ovarian cancer and comorbidity. He summarized the recent advanced information on the malignant transformation and comorbidity of endometriosis. Dr. Therasakvichya shared the experience of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in ovarian cancer patients at her hospital. She emphasized the importance of the patient's education, especially leg exercise, and proper assessment of VTE throughout the clinical course of ovarian cancer. Dr. Kobayashi presented drug repositioning strategy for ovarian cancer. He reported the anti-tumor effects of statins on tumor cell growth in ovarian cancer cell line and animal models. Drug repositioning strategy by the statin is expected to contribute to the treatment of ovarian cancer. Next, Dr. Lee presented the role of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors in ovarian cancer patients. She reviewed recent novel 3 PARP inhibitors (olaparib, rucaparib, and niraparib) with the real-world clinical experience. As for future direction, she pointed balancing of treatment-related toxicity, optimal drug combination and assessment method of the drug response. Dr. Shi reported BRCA 1/2 mutation-related ovarian cancer in China. In the study, although germline BRCA 1/2 mutation was common in Chinese epithelial ovarian carcinoma patients (16.7%), BRCA 1/2 mutation was not associated with survival in Chinese patients. After the second session, there was a sponsored session (S1). Dr. Lee reviewed bevacizumab use in platinum-sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer. Also, she showed future direction as a combination therapy that can increase the effectiveness of the immunotherapy that is emerging recently. In the third session (A-3), clinical guidelines and position statement of Asian countries were presented by experts (Drs. Nagase, Lim, Wang, and Wilailak) from Japan, Korea, China, and Thailand. Dr. Mikami gave overview and future direction on guidelines and position statement at the beginning and also at the end of the session. In his presentation, he emphasized the necessity of building up a body of evidence at an advanced level that is specific to the Asian region. He also pointed out that mutual understanding of different gynecologic management in Asia country is needed to develop guidelines in the background of the diverse regional and medical care system. Before starting the next regular session, second sponsored session (S2) was started. Dr. Kim presented 3-dimensional (3D) laparoscopic surgery in endometrial cancer. He performed single port laparoscopic staging surgery in a patient with endometrial cancer. 3D image provided a precise special view of anatomy. The fourth session (A-4) was focused on chemotherapy and target agents. Dr. Hong reviewed current standard of chemotherapy in ovarian cancer. Bevacizumab has been studied in several settings. She questioned concerning the timing, duration, and combination agent of bevacizumab treatment. She also presented the immune modulatory effects of bevacizumab. Next, Dr. Tan reviewed the most recent therapeutic strategies targeting DNA repair that have been developed for gynecologic malignancies. He showed clear evidence for the efficacy of DNA damaging response (DDR) targeting in gynecologic cancers including platinum-based chemotherapy, PARP inhibitors, immunotherapy, and WEE1 inhibitors. Dr. Mandai gave talks on immunotherapy in gynecologic oncology. He shared his experience of using the anti-PD-1 antibody (nivolumab) in heavily treated recurrent ovarian cancer patients. He also gave information for appropriate patient selection with several biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitor. Dr. Chang gave a lecture on hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for ovarian cancer. He showed the several evidences of a positive role of HIPEC in ovarian cancer and suggested that HIPEC might extend life in the highly selected patient group, especially in patients treated with interval debulking surgery. Dr. Huang presented therapeutic stratification based on gene expression subtype (GEMS) in ovarian cancer. She showed several pathways within GEMS and its possible therapeutic targets. After the first day of ASGO meeting, there was a banquet in the Ramada Plaza Suwon Hotel. Most of the attendees gathered in the dinner and shared their impression on 5th ASGO workshop meeting. On the 2nd day, the fifth session (A-5) was opened, and the subject of the course was clinical trials in Asia. Dr. Ushijima presented cervical cancer clinical trials in Asia. He reviewed Asian clinical trials for cervical cancer and emphasized the point that original Asian study is beneficial for Asian patients. Ovarian cancer clinical trials were presented by Dr. Lee. He discussed ongoing trials from all of the Asian countries. Endometrial cancer clinical trials were presented by Dr. Chen. She pointed out the small proportion of Asian clinical trials compared to Europe, America, and Australia study. Dr. Ochiai delivered AGOG perspective. He showed that race and ethnicity might have an impact on treatment outcome and survival in gynecologic cancer, especially in ovarian cancer. Dr. Lee suggested governance (leadership) as one of the most critical factors for the successful collaboration of clinical trials in Asia. He appealed that the establishment of policies and continuous monitoring is indispensable for a successful partnership. Next session (A-6) was for junior doctors from Asia. A total of 8 topics were presented. Dr. Yang pointed out that metformin plus megestrol acetate may be a potential alternative therapy for endometrial hyperplasia or early endometrial cancer. Dr. Kalam reported validity of frozen section biopsy in the diagnosis of ovarian masses. Dr. Lv highlighted the role of ubiquitin-editing enzyme A20 and suggested A20 as a potential target for therapeutic intervention in endometrial cancer. Dr. Sehra analyzed 36 cases of uterine carcinosarcoma and reported that heterologous variants, depth of myometrial invasion and stage at diagnosis are independent prognostic factors for patient survival. Dr. Ahmad reviewed metabolic syndrome-related endometrial cancer and reported that obesity was the strongest risk factor. Dr. Yaznil reported management pattern of endometrial cancer in Haji Adam Malik Hospital. Dr. Modi analyzed the predictive role of lymph node density in cervical cancer. She suggested that it may be used as an independent prognostic parameter in patients with lymph node-positive cervical cancer. Dr. Manopunya reported the prevalence of anal intraepithelial neoplasia (AIN) in patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). He suggested high-resolution anoscopy for AIN screening rather than liquid-based anal cytology. Before the last session, Dr. Jeong gave a presentation on HPV vaccination update in a special session (S-3). He showed 12-years follow up on the long-term effectiveness data of Gardasil. He also presented evidence of the safety and protective benefits of HPV vaccines. However, the HPV vaccine coverage was varied across the countries. During the lunch time, the 4th Journal of Gynecologic Oncology (JGO) editorial board meeting was held (Fig. 2). Fig. 2 The 4th Journal of Gynecologic Oncology editorial board meeting. (from left to right) Jeong-Yeol Park,1 Chulmin Lee,2 Dong Hoon Suh,3 Jae-Weon Kim,4 Mi Kyung Kim,5 Dae-Hoon Jeong,6 Ju-won Roh,7 Sun Joo Lee,8 ZheZhu Gao,9 Hidemichi Watari,10 Jatupol Srisomboon,11 Sung Jong Lee,12 Chunling Chen,13 Xiaojun Chen,14 Takayuki Enomoto,15 David Tan,16 Ting-Chang Chang,17 Myong Cheol Lim,18 Se-Ik Kim,19 Jaeyun Song,20 Jung Yun Lee,21 Kyung-Jin Min,22 Yusuke Kobayashi,23 Min Chul Choi,24 Maria Lee,25 Miseon Kim.26 The last session (A-7) was for endometrial cancer. Dr. Lertkhachonsuk reviewed the current standard of care and debating points in endometrial cancer including ovarian preservation, lymphadenectomy, peritoneal washing/omentectomy and adjuvant treatment among various stages and risk factors. Dr. Chung presented an update of imaging techniques in endometrial cancer including tumor-volume combined diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) or integrated PET/magnetic resonance (MR) system. He suggested MR and PET/CT for preoperative workup and PET/CT for disease surveillance technique. Dr. Watari reviewed aspect of updated sarcoma and summarized phase III studies on newer drugs (pazopanib, trabectedin, eribulin). He also showed recent data of BRCAness as potential actionable features in leiomyosarcoma. Dr. Jeon gave a lecture on microsatellite instability (MSI) in endometrial cancer. He showed that mismatch repair deficiency (MMRd) and MSI testing may improve classifications of endometrial cancer and lead to a personalized treatment option. In this meeting, the latest gynecologic oncologic topics, as well as guidelines and position statement among Asian countries, were discussed. All the speakers at this meeting gave excellent presentations and attendees actively participated in the discussion after each presentation. By all of the participant's efforts, 5th ASGO workshop meeting was greatly successful. We hope all the ASGO members continually grow their professional knowledge, networking, and devotion to women's health in the Asian country. As a next academic activity, the 6th ASGO Biennial Meeting will take place at Songdo Convensia, Incheon, Korea from October 10 to 12, 2019. Conflict of Interest:No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article was reported.