The annual British Sarcoma Group Conference 2012 - Personalising Treatment and Care took place in Oxfordshire from 29 February - 2 March 2012. It is the main educational and networking event for all UK healthcare professionals and allied healthcare professionals treating patients with sarcoma. It was attended by almost 200 delegates representing a wide range of disciplines including oncology, surgery, pathology, research, specialist nursing, and physiotherapy, alongside representatives from the pharmaceutical industry, patient organisations and charities.

Sarcomas are rare malignant tumors, with an overall incidence of 6/105/year. Bone and soft tissue connective tissue tumours encompass more than 50 different rare histotypes and more than 150 different molecular subtypes. The incidence of individual rare sarcomas subtypes is often less than 0.5/105/year. Given the rarity of sarcomas as a group, but even more as individual entities, few prospective clinical trials testing local or systemic treatments have been performed in specific subtypes of sarcomas. Clinical trials in specific histological and molecular subtypes of sarcoma can only be performed through integrated clinical networks, centres of clinical excellence, supported by translational analysis.

The campaign Rare Cancers Europe has been developed by ESMO in collaboration with major European stakeholders in rare cancers and rare diseases to address challenges and propose solutions to eliminate the hurdles that patients with rare cancers, researchers, medical professionals and the pharmaceutical industry working in this field face every day. Rare Cancers Europe (RCE) has been established as a partnership of cooperating organisations that work together to place the issue of rare cancers firmly on the European policy agenda, to identify and promote appropriate solutions and to exchange best practice. SPAEN has now been welcomed into the partnership initiative. http://www.rarecancerseurope.org

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its branch the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development have announced an exciting initiative for those affected by pediatric GIST, Carney Triad, GIST from Carney-Stratakis syndrome, or other wildtype GIST: NIH Clinic for Pediatric and Wildtype GIST. In January 2012 the pre-clinic meeting of the 8th Pediatric and Wildtype GIST Clinic at NIH took place and we are delighted to publish a report of a representative of GIST Support International (GSI) who has attended the meeting. Read more.