Soft-tissue sarcoma, one of the more common forms of childhood cancer, will be the focus of a major international conference taking place in Bristol this week [17 to 18 November].

Soft-tissue sarcoma most commonly occurs as a sub-type cancer known as rhabdomyosarcoma, forming aggressive tumours with a predilection for the very young (50 per cent of children with rhabdomyosarcoma are under the age of five years at diagnosis). Although survival rates have improved, still only about 75 per cent of affected children are cured and those who do no survive may pay a heavy price in terms of the long-term consequences of their treatment.

The ‘10th International Workshop for Paediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma’, hosted by Professor Mike Stevens, CLIC Professor of Paediatric Oncology at the University of Bristol, brought together 60 experts including clinicians, statisticians, biologists and pathologists from ten European countries, the United States and Australia.

The experts spent two days reviewing data from meta-analyses of clinical trials undertaken over the past 20 years in Europe and North America. They hope to identify factors which will better predict clinical outcome, and select children who may either need more intensive treatment or who, in contrast, could be spared in the intensity of some currently used treatments and risks to their future health.

Professor Stevens, who with colleagues from France and Italy, chairs an international clinical trial organisation, the European Paediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma Group (EpSSG), has a long-standing interest in the better treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma and other forms of sarcoma in childhood. The programme also included a meeting of the EpSSG, which is currently recruiting patients to three multinational clinical trials across Europe.

Professor Stevens undertakes his clinical duties as a Paediatric Oncologist at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, which serves as the principal treatment centre for children and young people with cancer in the South West of England. He is also Director of the South West Children’s Cancer Research Registry (SWCCRR).