Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It is our great honour and pleasure to invite you to the Third Workshop and Symposium on Multidisciplinary Treatment of Rectal Cancer scheduled to be held at the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana from 20 to 21 September 2010 and organized jointly by the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana, the Section of Surgical Oncology of the Slovenian Medical Association and The National Institute of Public Health  - The National Colorectal Cancer Screening Program SVIT.

As is the case with other cancer localizations, rectal cancer has also proved to be a disease requiring a multidisciplinary approach to treatment. Designing the treatment plan for each rectal cancer patient, from the diagnosis to the completion of the therapy, involves a continual cooperation of specialists in different medical specialties. In the countries where the updated rectal cancer guidelines and multidisciplinary approach to rectal cancer treatment are followed, the treatment results are persistently improving. Therefore, our wish has been to keep our local medical circles abreast of the latest achievements and advances in this field. We have thus decided that the main topic of the workshop and symposium will this time be expanded to include also other specialties, such as surgery radiotherapy medical oncology, radiology and pathology. As in earlier two symposia, we have invited the world΄s leading experts in surgery, radiotherapy and pathology. The topics to be discussed are as follows:

• surgical anatomy of the pelvis and basic principles of the total mesorectal excision with surgical demonstration live transmitted from the surgical theater;
• principles and rationale for the extra-levator abdominoperineal excision; also this operation will be live transmitted from the surgical theater;
• principles of the MRI imaging and readings of the pelvis and planning of the neoadjuvant treatment based on MRI images;
• nutritional support ;
• specimen processing, pathological audit, assessment and reporting the rectal cancer;
• neoadjuvant treatment;
• quality assurance in rectal cancer treatment;
• multidisciplinary approach.

The workshop is intended for specialists and residents in surgery, radiotherapy, medical oncology, radiology, pathology, gastroenterology, as well as for all other specialists involved in rectal cancer treatment.

Yours sincerely,

Ibrahim Edhemović, MD, MSc

President of the Slovenian Section of Surgical Oncology

Professor Marko Hočevar, MD, PhD

Head of the Surgical Division of the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana