12^th Annual Conference of Indian Society of Neuro-Oncology 

ISNOCON 2021 — April 15-17, 2021

by Dr Ranjith K, Organising Secretary, ISNOCON 2021

The 12^th annual meeting of The Indian Society of Neuro-Oncology (ISNO) was hosted as a virtual event by Christian Medical College, Vellore in South India from April 15-17, 2021. This was the first virtual conference of the society, being held in midst of the COVID pandemic. Despite the meeting being held through a virtual platform, there were more than 300 registrants from India, UK and Asia and the sessions were well attended with active participation from the delegates who were from the disciplines of Neurosurgery, Neuropathology, Neuroradiology, Radiation and Medical Oncology (Adult and Paediatric) and Basic Neuroscience. Information booklets on brain tumours translated into the Indian languages of Assamese and Tamil by JASCAP (Jeet Association for Support To Cancer Patients) were released during the inaugural function. The mission of JASCAP is to “Empower families through relevant and updated information on cancer and its management”.

Day 1 — On the first day of the meeting, the focus was on “management of primary spinal tumours and metastatic spinal tumours”. The faculty included luminaries in the field of management of sarcomas, chordomas and spinal metastases such as Dr. Silvia Stacchioti from Milan, Italy; Dr. Arjun Sahgal and Dr. Michael Fehlings from Toronto among others. The talks and discussions focussed on contemporary management practices in the management of these tumours. The highlight of the day was the presidential oration delivered by Dr. Shaleen Kumar, Radiation Oncologist and director of Superspeciality Cancer Institute and Hospital, Lucknow. In this oration, he gave insights into the processes and challenges involved in starting an Oncology centre under the public sector.

Day 2 — The second day of the meeting was devoted to “intramedullary spinal cord tumours, gliomas and translational research in Neuro-Oncology”. Dr. David Capper from Berlin delivered a keynote address on the use of DNA methylation in classification of brain tumours. Dr. Yong Kil Hong, president of World Federation of Neuro-Oncological Societies summarized his experience on Tumour Treating Fields in glioblastoma. In the “Do Not Miss It” session, a sneak preview on what to expect once the revised classification is released by WHO later this year, was presented. Dr. Arie Perry from UCSF, USA, Dr. Chitra Sarkar from AIIMS, Delhi and Dr. Cynthia Hawkins from The Hospital For Sick Children, Toronto, Canada presented a synopsis of the classification and the rationale. Dr. Vani Santosh from NIMHANS, Bangalore provided insights into how the WHO 2021 recommendations would affect reporting and diagnosis of gliomas in India and other low and middle income countries. This was followed by an enthusiastic discussion on the WHO 2021 recommendations and it was planned to formulate pragmatic guidelines on its application and use in the Indian scenario.

The ISNO President’s award for the best Clinician-Researcher was awarded to Dr. Jayant Goda Sastri, radiation oncologist from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai for his work on preclinical drug development on glioblastoma. The ISNO President’s  award for Outstanding work in Neuro-Oncology was given to Dr. Kirti Gupta, neuropathologist from PGIMER, Chandigarh for her contribution in understanding molecular pathology of paediatric posterior fossa tumours

The Abhijit Guha oration, in memory of late Dr. Guha from Toronto, who spearheaded the establishment of ISNO, was delivered by Dr. Mark S Gilbert, who heads the Neuro-Oncology division at NIH, Bethesda. Dr. Gilbert presented his work on the classification of ependymomas and gave insights into various aspects of research that advanced care of patients with CNS tumours. He conveyed the message to the audience, particularly relevant to young investigators, that one should be willing to keep all doors open and welcome any iota of chance and opportunity that may come knocking.

Day 3 — The third and final day of the meeting was focused on the management of CNS tumours in teens and adolescents or the AYA population. This session was introduced by Dr. Prakash Chitalkar, medical oncologist from Indore, who is the president of TYACAN foundation. The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Anita Mahajan, radiation oncologist from Toronto on the challenges of administering RT to this population. Dr. Rakesh Jalali summarized the Indian experience in the management of these tumours.

There were three theme based challenging case discussions held on each of the three days of the conference with a multidisciplinary panel of experts. There was enthusiastic participation from both the delegates and faculty to discuss various aspects of diagnosis and management in each of the cases. The conference ended on a high note with a very exciting quiz competition amongst six finalists, who were residents from different institutions across the country.

Figure 1. A view of the virtual platform from the meeting with ongoing discussion on Vertebral tumours in progress.

Figure 2. A screenshot depicting the introduction of Dr. Mark R Gilbert (Top left panel), Chief of Neuro-Oncology Branch at National Institute of Health, Bethesda during the Abhijit Guha oration. Dr. Shaleen Kumar, president of ISNO, (Middle left panel) and Dr. Rakesh Jalali (Bottom left panel) are introducing Dr. Mark R Gilbert.

Figure 3. Dr. Mark R Gilbert paying a tribute to Dr. Abhijit Guha