APMSTS 2018

Closing report

The 12th Asia Pacific Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (APMSTS) meeting held at Jaipur in 2018 was a combined APMSTS – IMSOS (Indian Musculoskeletal Oncology Society) meeting. Three hundred and eight delegates from twenty-nine countries participated in this four-day event. An additional hundred Indian delegates participated in the pre-conference workshops.

The theme of the conference was “Education – Collaboration – Innovation”. This epitomized the desire to share and disseminate knowledge and the spirit of collaboration necessary to find answers to common problems with a need to derive innovative solutions best suited to the Asian socio-economic milieu.

The pre-conference workshops - Management Dilemmas, Biopsy & Curettage, Techniques in Limb Reconstruction, Navigation in Musculoskeletal Oncology and Radiotherapy in Sarcomas had a combination of didactic lectures and interactive discussions. These workshops planned by IMSOS encompassed different sub specialities involved in sarcoma care promoting the ethos of multidisciplinary care.

Besides the regular assortment of free papers the conference included innovative sessions like ‘The case that taught me most’ and ‘Experience is the best teacher’. ‘Meet the Professor’ morning sessions gave delegates an opportunity to closely interact with internationally renowned faculty. Interactive case-based discussion sessions promoted healthy interaction between delegates and faculty.

Dr Stefan Bielack delivered an outstanding IMSOS Oration - ‘Lessons learnt from European- American Osteosarcoma Study EURAMOS1’ and Dr Suresh Nathan delivered the inaugural ‘APMSTS Prof Yoshio Ogihara Oration’ -‘My brush with the contradictions in Orthopaedic Oncology we take for granted’.

A concurrent meeting of the Sarcoma Support Group attended by sarcoma survivors offered a platform for survivors to share their heart-warming stories of tribulations and eventual success.

Following up on the excellent academics was the exuberant participation by all delegates in the gala dinner which included memorable “performances” by participating nations thus ensuring that all those who participated in APMSTS 2018 returned with warm and happy memories of “Incredible India”.

Organizing Committee

12th APMSTS