President's Message
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Welcome to the website of BASO ~ The Association for
Cancer Surgery
I was very honoured to be elected as President of BASO-ACS, from
November 2017 for two years. I first encountered BASO as a
surgical trainee in the early 1980s. The organisation held
interesting meetings, covering the areas of cancer surgery that
general surgical trainees had to cover, and allowed insights into
surgical cancer treatments in other disciplines. Surgical
consultant appointees in the 1990s were expected to cover a wide
range of cancer sites, and this applied both to those with a
surgical oncology interest and also to surgeons with a benign
interest.Following the Calman-Hine report, and the Cancer Plan, all
surgeons dealing with cancer had to subspecialise, and the role of
the surgical oncologist appeared lost.
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The majority of surgical cancer specialists have now been
trained totally in the era of subspecialty, and apart from early
experience in a range of topics, have had little senior experience
of other cancer management outside their own. One of the
significant benefits of being in BASO is that it allows the
surgeons to hear about cutting-edge research and cancer management
in all solid cancer surgical sites. Despite the separation of
cancer type management, many concepts, both surgical and adjuvant
cross the boundaries.
It is recognised, although not widely understood by the general
public, and even those having responsibility for health matters,
that most cures for cancer are surgical, whether it is a simple
resection or a complex operation. As surgical treatment
improves, we have to make sure that experience of surviving also
enhances - quality of life is vitally important, and this is part
of the surgical ethos.
BASO~ACS is a charity, and our remit is to advance the science
of cancer surgery and to educate. We want to educate each
other at a senior level, to hear the best surgical talents in the
world discussing their work and expectations. We need to
teach our colleagues in training not only about research and the
best management of cancers but also to have an enquiring open mind
- because there WILL be significant changes during their
working lives. We can see the start of the genomic
revolution, but there are also the "unknown unknowns" that will
affect the way the present trainees will be working in 20 -30
years' time. BASO~ACS works for the future of cancer research
and treatment. As a charity, we sponsor trainees' research,
and we also send our stars of the future to get experience of the
best surgical cancer treatment in the world with the Ronald Raven
Travelling Fellowship.
Surgical oncologists from all sites rely on our oncology
colleagues for adjuvant treatment, and links with oncologists are
important not only in multidisciplinary team settings but also at
higher levels. We have had two successful years of close
links with the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) at our
annual meetings. In November 2018 in our National Congress,
we will be meeting with the Royal College of Physicians and
Surgeons of Glasgow and then joining the NCRI for their Glasgow
meeting. We will be having international Keynote speakers and
workshops as well as opportunities for trainees or others to
present their work in surgical oncology of all cancer types to a
broad audience. We encourage you to come and join us.
BASO is also very proud to be one of the 2 founding bodies of
the European Journal of Surgical Oncology (EJSO). This Journal is
going from strength to strength under the leadership of Professor
Audisio with its impact factor exceeding this year and seeing a
steady rise in the number and quality of submissions. Subscription
to the Journal is a benefit of BASO~ACS membership.
We are fortunate that all our members benefit from our ongoing
close association with ESSO. Our trainees have access to all of the
Trainee events of EYSAC (European Young Surgeons and Alumni Club)
and BASO members benefit from member rates at all ESSO congresses
and courses across Europe as well as all the networking and
fellowship opportunities this linkage provides.
Finally we plan to increase our engagement with the national
community of cancer surgeons across the UK, both in academic,
teaching and district hospitals by appointing regional
representatives across the UK. We must never lose sight of the fact
that the majority of cancers are dealt with by surgeons working in
smaller hospitals and we intent that BASO~ACS will continue
to support them in their work by providing first class continuing
medical education, networking and professional support.
We hope you will continue to support us as we move forward.
Professor Robert Kirby
President BASO~ACS
Professor of Clinical Education and Surgery and
Consultant Surgeon, UHNM Hospital Dean, Keele University Medical
School