SELNET project holds its first meeting

European Project SELNET (Sarcoma European & LatinAmerican NETwork), to improve diagnosis and treatment of ‘rare tumors’ in Latinamerica, holds its first meeting.

• The main objective of SELNET is to improve diagnosis and treatment of sarcomas in Latinamerica and the Caribbean.

• SELNET Project, led by Oncologists of the University Hospital Virgen del Rocío (Seville, Spain) and of the Institute of Biomedicine of Seville, is made possible thanks to a European grant HORIZON 2020.

• International experts will meet in Seville (Spain) on February, 21st and 22nd.

International experts of the participating centers in SELNET have met in Seville on February, 21st and 22nd to launch this project. Its main objective is to create a multidisciplinary network of specialists in Europe and Latinamerica to improve the diagnosis and treatment of sarcomas, by means of validation of a collaborative model. This model can then be replicated in other rare tumors, as well as in other countries of Europe, Latinamerica and the Caribbean.

Dr. Javier Martín Broto, Oncologist at University Hospital Virgen del Rocío (Seville, Spain), leads this international 4-year project, possible thanks to a European grant H2020.

Relevant cancer centers and research groups in Spain, Italy, France, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Peru will contribute to better rare cancer care by fostering reference centers, healthcare barrier analysis, clinical practice guidelines, and medical education as key improvement drivers. The core of the research work focuses on improving diagnosis and prognosis of sarcoma patients through the creation of pathologic diagnosis networks, multidisciplinary tumor boards, the conduct of an international registry-based observational study to assess clinical management quality and prognostic factors, and the implementation of a strategic translational research program to develop an intercontinental sarcoma biocollection, preclinical models, and a translational study with drugs in rare sarcoma subtypes.

Representatives of the centers involved in the SELNET project have participated in the meeting that held in Seville (Spain) on February, 21st and 22nd: Virgen del Rocío University Hospital, Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori (Italia), Istituto Ortopedico Rizzioli (Italia), Centre Léon Bérard (France), Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (Mexico), Centro Médico Nacional 20 de Noviembre (Mexico), A.C. Camargo Cancer Center (Brazil), Alexander Fleming Institute (Argentina), Hospital San Vicente de Paúl (Costa Rica) and National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases (Peru).