Members of The Christie penile cancer service and UZ Leuven came together this month to build closer clinical and research links in penile cancer.
The 2-day visit involved Professor Vijay Sangar and Mr Arie Parnham, consultant surgeons at The Christie, Dr Pedro Oliveira, academic pathologist, and Xu Xuan, honorary clinical fellow at The Christie. They met with Professor Maarten Albersen and colleagues at UZ Leuven in Belgium.
The visit gave both specialist teams the chance to share experience, compare approaches and discuss future joint work. The focus was on improving care for men with penile cancer and building stronger research links between the 2 centres.
Penile cancer is rare, so progress depends on expert teams working together across countries. The discussions included shared learning, future collaborative projects and ways to support better care for patients through research.
The visit was supported by ERDERA, the European Rare Diseases Research Alliance, which helps experts across Europe work together to improve care and research for people with rare diseases.
Professor Vijay Sangar said: “Penile cancer is a rare disease, so progress depends on specialist teams working together as equal partners. This visit was a valuable opportunity to share experience with our colleagues at KU Leuven, strengthen European links and develop research ideas that could improve care for patients in the future.”
The Christie penile cancer service continues to work with national and international partners to improve patient care, support specialist education and develop research in rare male genital cancers.
