The Peritoneal Surface Oncology Group International has been a cooperative of numerous individuals from the United States, Europe, Korea, and Japan who have as a common interest in the prevention and treatment of peritoneal surface malignancy. 

The principal groups involved from its inception are Paul Sugarbaker in Washington, DC, Francois Gilly in Lyon, France, Brendan Moran in Basingstoke, England, Yutaka Yonemura in Shizuoka, Japan, and Marcello Deraco in Milan, Italy.

Over the years numerous other groups have become involved and today, at least a hundred different institutions around the world are involved in this effort to manage carcinomatosis and peritoneal mesothelioma.

The group exists to share our experiences (both good and bad), optimize the management of this lethal condition, and educate ourselves and others regarding the success that has been achieved around the world. 

Although we started as a group of surgeons, now medical oncologists, pharmacologists, and numerous other disciplines have become involved.

 

• The first meeting in 1998 was held at the Royal College of Surgeons.. It was attended by approximately 30 people and was a cooperative effort of Professor R. J. Heald and myself. 

• The second meeting was also held at the Royal College of Surgeons and was a Millenium Masterclass. It was held in June 2000. The Course Coordinators were Professor R. J. Heald, Brendan Moran, and myself. 

• The third biannual meeting was held in Basingstoke, England. It was coordinated by Brendan Moran. 

• The fourth biannual meeting was held in Madrid as an international workshop on peritoneal surface malignancy. The workshop coordinator was Santiago Gonzalez-Moreno. From this workshop a supplement to the European Journal of Surgical Oncology was formulated.

• The fifth biannual meeting was held in Milan, Italy. The Program Coordinator was Marcello Deraco. This was a consensus meeting regarding the management of carcinomatosis from a wide variety of cancers. There was approximately 700 cases.

• Of course, the sixth biannual meeting is to be held in Lyon. It will be building on the consensus formulated in Milan and moving to the clinical integration of these management strategies into the treatment of gastrointestinal cancer, ovarian cancer, peritoneal mesothelioma, and a wide variety of other conditions.

Over the years the group in Lyon has shown both scientific and clinical leadership in developing this new and promising area of cancer treatment. 

The progress achieved in France is a model for the rest of the world. It is appropriate that Drs. Gilly and Glehen would host the sixth and most important biannual meeting of the Peritoneal Surface Oncology Group International.