Interventional oncology is continuously growing, frequently branching into new areas and making exciting progress. Staying up to date on all of these constant changes can be challenging; in order to facilitate conversation and push the envelope for innovation even further, the European Conference on Interventional Oncology (ECIO) offers a wide range of oncological specialists a comprehensive forum for education, networking and exchange.

Since its first meeting in 2008, ECIO has evolved from a small, yet significant biannual meeting of IRs into the leading annual congress in the field of interventional oncology, bringing a multidisciplinary group of nearly 1,500 healthcare professionals from 65 countries together to learn and discuss the latest topics and future advancements in IO. The upcoming congress in Nice, France, hopes to expand on this success, creating a space for professionals across an even broader range of disciplines to meet and work toward innovations in cancer care.

The Scientific Programme Committee has been working diligently to create an expansive scientific programme covering a broad spectrum of relevant topics for all those working in the oncologic field. It will once again explore a plethora of clinical subjects, from well-established therapies, such as local ablation for liver tumours, to newer clinical areas, such as immunotherapy and advances in nuclear medicine.

ECIO 2020’s programme also recognises the expanding role of minimally invasive treatments in tackling cancer head on. As in previous years, Clinical Focus Sessions examining HCC procedures, such as Hepatocarcinoma: from classification to treatment, will provide an excellent model for how interventional oncology can achieve quality outcomes in cancer care. Other sessions, such as Nuclear medicine and interventional oncology – present and future, will explore new data and expert advice on some of the field’s latest and most promising treatment possibilities, which continue to enhance the overall impact of interventional oncology for patients.

Another exciting aspect to ECIO 2020’s programme is a Clinical Focus Session titled Upcoming European Research, which will provide the opportunity for young researchers to present their latest work, delving into timely topics such as intratumoral immunotherapy, cryo-priming in immunoresponse and endothelial antibody capture. This session will help us look forward, both examining the implications of current developments and the future possibilities of the field at large.

As a new feature, ECIO 2020 will allow attendees to submit abstracts in the form of a case report – in addition to scientific abstracts and educational abstracts – bringing the submission types in line with the CIRSE annual congress. All case reports, as well as educational abstracts and select scientific abstracts, will be available for public viewing at the congress, providing authors the opportunity to receive comments directly from the onsite workstations. We hope that this will give a diverse group of IRs and oncology specialists the opportunity to share their research and receive valuable feedback. Abstract submission will be open this year from September 16 to November 11; and we encourage all interested researchers to submit their abstracts to become a part of this leading IO congress.