15-ICML

The International Conference on Malignant Lymphoma (ICML) has become, since the first edition in 1981, a must-attend event for the scientific community involved in the study and treatment of lymphoid neoplasms.

ICML traditionally takes place in Lugano, Switzerland, and it is now organized every two years (not every three, like in the past), to allow the presentation and discussion of the most recent basic and clinical data by worldwide known hematologists, clinical oncologists, radio-oncologists, pediatricians, pathologists and leading researchers.
As usual, the scientific program has been prepared with the collaboration of almost 80 international experts but, even with their help, this time the selection of presentations was quite a challenge: the number of received abstracts was unexpectedly much higher than in 2017 (about 90 submissions more than last edition) and also the scientific content was of high interest. There is quite a lot going on in the field of the lymphoid neoplasms!

The educational sessions offer twelve frontal lectures of about 45’ given by the most renowned experts in the field, and two symposia of three presentations each, covering HL e NHL.
General sessions are then focused not on a specific morphologic subtype, but rather on pathways or other biological aspects, and permit therefore the presentation of basic and clinical data in the same session.

A more and more appreciated feature of the scientific program have become the Clinical discussion sessions, a sort of Europe vs. USA debate with presenters of outstanding centers addressing most interesting cases. After Lysa (France) vs Mayo Clinic in 2013, FIL (Italy) vs New York centers in 2015 and German vs Californian institutes in 2017, this time the following Spanish and Texan experts will present cases and discuss the treatment options.

The following special sessions will also take place and will be open to all 15-ICML attendees:

- two workshops organized in collaboration with the International Lymphoma Radiation Oncology Group (ILROG):
“New Guidelines from the International Lymphoma Radiation Oncology Group” and “Contemporary lymphoma treatment: radiation therapy issues”
- the Special Forum “Revolutionary Therapies for Cancer”, by IBSA FOUNDATION
- the AACR-ICML Joint session: “The role of non-clinical models as bridges to early clinical trials”, in co-operation with the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
- the UCLI-ICML JOINT SESSION: “New data on t-cell and other lymphomas”, organized in collaboration with Union for China Lymphoma Investigators (UCLI)
- the ESO – ESMIT Educational Session - PET-CT IN LYMPHOMA, organized by the European School of Oncology (ESO) and the European School of Multimodality Imaging & Therapy (ESMIT).

The 15-ICML will take place in the Lugano Convention Centre, Palazzo dei Congressi, in the centre of the city. Its rooms will host the scientific general sessions and the satellite symposia.
Due to Palazzo dei Congressi limited capacity, some of “Meet the Professor”, “Focus on…” and parallel scientific sessions will be held in additional large conference rooms at about 5’ walking distance from the Convention Centre (i.e. Auditorium and Aula Magna, Lugano University Campus, and Cinema Corso).
As usual, a large gazebo has been built in the beautiful park surrounding Palazzo dei Congressi and bordering the lake of Lugano, where the Poster Area and the Exhibition Area are organized and lunches and coffee breaks take place.
The additional rooms serve also as overflow halls to permit attendees to follow remotely the sessions taking place in Palazzo dei Congressi.