The Congress

The Gruppo Otologico is pleased to announce the organization of the First International Congress on “Update on the Management of Head and Neck Paragangliomas”, planned for September 20-22, 2023, in Piacenza, Italy. 
 
Head and Neck Paragangliomas are rare tumors that, due to anatomic location, pose significant challenges to surgical treatment. Yet, the last 25 years witnessed a significant evolution of the surgical techniques, particularly in Skull Base Surgery, that today makes operable tumors previously regarded as inoperable.

These exciting developments are enhanced by major advances in diagnostic and interventional radiology, that vastly improve diagnosis, staging, and follow-up, and pave the way for precision radiotherapy and locoregional disease control.

Furthermore, breakthroughs in genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, that took off in the early 2000's, resulted in an ever-increasing understanding of the molecular processes that lie the basis of head and neck paraganglioma and of paragangliomas at large.

This new knowledge impacts on the identification of patients at risk for locally aggressive, multifocal and/or metastatic disease, on the potential development of targeted biological therapies, on drug repurposing, on the choice between wait and scan and interventional approaches, and on the modalities of follow-up of patients and their relatives, who may be at genetic risk.

Still, the translational gap between scientific knowledge and patient management remains wide, reflecting the classic challenges posed by rare tumors. 
 
 

With the organization of this congress, Gruppo Otologico aims at bringing together for the first time the full range of health professionals and researchers from different specialties who work on head and neck paragangliomas.

The congress intends to address state of the art of diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up, evaluate new research perspectives, and will provide a highly specialized forum for the exchange of ideas and for the creation of networks to fight this neglected tumor type.