Ferran Guedea, professor of Radiology and Physical Medicine at the University of Barcelona, director of Radiation Oncology of the Catalan Institute of Oncology and full academician of the Royal European Academy of Doctors-Barcelona 1914 (RAED), participated between the past 13 and 15 of May in the 3rd Symposium of Investigation of the American company Varian Medical Systems, the main international manufacturer of software and treatments of radiotherapy oncology. The appointment brought together in Chicago more than 200 specialists from around the world.
The academician of the RAED presented the communication on “Effect of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) on the immune system in lung cancer patients unfit for surgery: immunophenotyping analysis”, where he details the research being done by the Catalan Institute of Oncology in stimulating the immunity of patients when a very high dose of radiotherapy is administered in a very well localized area, in this case in particular the lung. The technique that allows this immune stimulation is the so-called extracranial stereotactic radiotherapy, known as SBRT for its acronym.
Guedea presented his work in a session moderated by Renate Parry, director of research at Varian, along with the presentations of three other specialists in the field: Mary Hellen Barcellos-Hoff, of the University of San Francisco; Ralph Weichselbaum, of the University of Chicago, and Rohit Sharma, of the University of London. After the presentations an extensive debate was opened among the speakers.
During the symposium, Varian presented its lines of work for the next two years in oncological treatment, which will focus on the fields of translational research, radiotherapy in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, radiology and Big Data. This firm, leader in oncological radiotherapy, has as centers of reference for its research two European centers, one of them the Catalan Institute of Oncology and the other linked to the University of London, and four centers in the United States, linked in turn to the University of San Francisco, the University of Maryland, the University of Chicago and the University of Cincinnati.
