The International Society of Paediatric Surgical Oncology

IPSO currently runs a surgical oncology course at the annual meeting of EUPSA (The European Paediatric Surgeon's Association) and usually holds a pre-conference course at the annual joint congress with SIOP

Pre-conference course at annual SIOP congress

Each year IPSO holds an education day just before the annual congress. The day is set up by the local IPSO organiser, and the content is intend to meet the particular demands of the local paediatric surgical oncological community. The day is aimed at both trainees and experienced surgeons. The programme for London 2012 is not yet finalised. In due course details will be found on the conferences page of this website, and enrollment will be available through the 2012 congress website

IPSO course at annual EUPSA congress

The content of the course is structured as a three year cycle, with the aim that a participant who attends for three consecutive years will cover the full curriculum in paediatric surgical oncology.

The outline content of each year in the cycle will include:

• Year 1 nephroblastoma; neuroblastoma; genito-urinary rhabdomyosarcoma; chemotherapy for surgeons
• Year 2 liver tumours; thoracic tumours; germ cell tumours
• Year 3 sarcoma; endocrine tumours; thoracic wall tumours

Each year of the course can be taken independently, and will include discussion sessions, and an MCQ exam. Successful completion of each year of the course will earn the participant a certificate, but completion of all three components will result in an additional certificate of completion of the full course.

The 3 year cycle was completed at the 2010 EUPSA meeting in Berne, and the first component of the next cycle was held in Barcelona in 2011. The next course will run in conjunction with the 2012 EUPSA/BAPS congress, which will be held in Rome. The congress will run from 13th to 16th June 2012. We expect that the oncology course will be on Tuesday June 12, but details have yet to be confirmed.

The course in Rome will be Year 2 on the course programme

Enrolment for the 2012 course will be carried out on-line, through the EUPSA website, which also contains information about the rest of the meeting. Early registration on the course is recommended, since last year it was fully booked.