Four Contouring Workshops at ESTRO 31

FALCON (Fellowship in Anatomic delineation and CONtouring) is the multifunctional ESTRO platform for contouring and delineation. Attending a FALCON workshop offers the opportunity for individual professionals to validate their contouring practice during live workshops and also online by comparing the contours from a participant with those from experts who propose a clinical case; to learn the indications proposed by the experts that coordinated the workshops; to discuss with other participants, experts and panelists; and, finally, to communicate and use the ESTRO guidelines in order to further integrate these guidelines into daily practice.

FALCON workshops will obviously be an important part of ESTRO31.

As is usual, at the beginning of the session, as administrators of the FALCON workshop we will explain to participants how to use the software. After that, the expert will present the clinical case and tell the participants exactly what they need delineate. Then the participants will have at least 30-40 minutes for delineation with the technical support, if needed, from the FALCON team in charge of the workshop (Christine Verfaillie, Miika Palmu, and ourselves). Thereafter, participants will submit their contouring to the database of the system and expert and panelists will have time to comment on the contours from the expert and the audience and to present the recommended guidelines for the delineation and the bibliographic references for the therapeutic strategy chosen. A booklet including the clinical case, guidelines and bibliographic references has been prepared by the expert and it will be given to the participants. Participants will be invited to bring their own laptops but ESTRO foresees the need for some back-up laptops.

The starting time will be from 8.00 to 10.00 am, but the participants will be asked to arrive in the room 10 minutes before the beginning of the workshop to be ready to start on time.

Participants will be limited to 60 per workshop to keep a strong interactivity in the group. A waiting list system has been created to optimise the workshop registration system. At ESTRO 31, participants will not only need to register on line for the workshop when registering for the congress but also to confirm their participation by answering a reminder email at the latest by noon the day before. The registration will be cancelled if participation is not confirmed; people from the waiting list will then be offered a place in the workshop.

Capturing what has been appreciated during the past workshops and optimising the next ones following the suggestions of the participants, the FALCON team hopes to improve the quality of this educational tool, bringing an important contribution to the programme of ESTRO 31.

Sofia Rivera

Service de cancérologie radiothérapie - Hôpital Saint-Louis, Paris (France)

Berardino De Bari

Istituto del Radio - Spedali Civili, Brescia (Italy)

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