Velindre oncologists win prestigious international award

Two members of the Velindre Cancer Centre Oncology Team have scooped up a prestigious award at this year’s European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress.

Dr Ricky Frazer and Dr Senjuti Gupta, along with colleagues from numerous NHS Trusts and Centres from across the UK, won the Best Poster Award in the renal cancer category at this year’s event in Paris, France.

ESMO is the leading professional organisation for medical oncology. With more than 25,000 members representing oncology professionals from over 160 countries worldwide, ESMO is the society of reference for oncology education and information.

The poster (which can be view here) outlines the outcomes of modern-era renal cell carcinoma patients with brain metastases (patients whose cancer has spread from its primary site to the brain).

It also highlights how often patients develop cancer on the brain because of renal cancer and aims to use real-world data to improve clinical guidelines and practice across the UK.

“We are delighted to have received this recognition”, said Dr Ricky Frazer, who co-accepted the award at the congress in Paris. “Patients with kidney cancer are living longer than ever before and studies like this inform clinical practice around management of patients who develop disease in the brain.”

Velindre Cancer Centre, led by Dr Frazer and Dr Gupta, has also worked closely with cancer centres in Bristol, Taunton and Truro to form the National UK Renal Oncology Collaborative (UKROC), which continues to work with centres across the UK to provide up to date real world evidence.

Ricky added: “This [UKROC] is needed to inform day-to-day practice and improve patient care and outcomes for those diagnosed with kidney cancer.”

Dr Senjuti Gupta said “I am proud to have been able to contribute to a now internationally recognised piece of work, in partnership with two excellent Cardiff University medical students, Becky Alexander and Megan Driver, as part of the ongoing SSC placement program at Velindre Cancer Centre.

“These pieces of work have demonstrated how immunotherapy and the management of patients receiving immunotherapy for a number of tumour types such as kidney cancer has really come to prominence.”

One of the poster’s conclusions is that there is a strong argument for the use of Immunotherapy to improve overall survival in patients who develop brain metastases, and routine brain imaging should be considered.

Velindre has recently launched an innovative new Immunotherapy Toxicity Service, which will improve care for immunotherapy patients across the whole of South East Wales and reduce hospital admissions for patients requiring toxicity management.

Click here to view the winning poster.