The inaugural Ablation Study Day, held at the DeVere Grand Connaught Rooms in London on December 6th, 2023, was a landmark event. Organised by Dr. Peter Littler from Freeman Hospital, Newcastle, it attracted over 100 clinicians from across the UK and international guests from as far as Saudi Arabia. The day was characterised by high-quality lectures from an expert faculty spanning the UK and Europe.

This gathering was pivotal in sparking insightful discussions around HPB ablation and providing valuable learning experiences for all attendees. It also served as an ideal platform to introduce and demonstrate the Solero and NanoKnife systems. The hands-on session, in particular, garnered significant interest.

The Ablation Study Day has underscored the vital role of industry in supporting education within the medical field. Filling a unique niche in the events calendar, it has not only been instrumental in providing educational support to clinicians but also in enhancing brand awareness within the interventional radiology sector.

Delegate feedback has been exceptionally positive, with a unanimous 100% stating they would attend future events and recommend them to colleagues. A selection of feedback comments:

“I also wanted to say thank you and congratulate you on the Ablation Study Day. I gained a huge amount from attending, and I was pleased to see such a great turnout.” – Nike Alesbury, CEO, British Society of Interventional Radiology (BSIR)

“A very informative and well-run day. Well-structured with a good number of sessions and high-quality information delivered in a succinct way. It is also a good chance to discuss current service provision amongst peers.”

“Excellent day. I’ve really learnt a fantastic amount…”

“Fantastic day overall. Excellent speakers. Good evidence-based scientific lectures.”

“Thank you. A well-organised high-quality meeting.”

This year, Aquilant has proudly hosted two Focal Therapy symposia. The first one took place in Birmingham during the BAUS event, followed by a second successful symposium in Leeds. Both events drew an impressive audience of Urologists, Radiologists, and Oncologists.

A highlight of these symposia was Mr. Alistair Grey from University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who shared his extensive experiences in focal therapy using various techniques. We are especially thankful for AngioDynamics’ support in presenting the NanoKnife at both events. These symposia have been tremendously successful, sparking keen interest among UK doctors in the NanoKnife and fostering opportunities to observe Mr. Grey’s cases.

Dr. Olly Hulson, Consultant Radiologist at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and a key figure in the Leeds symposium’s success, shared his thoughts:

“I reached out to Karen and Alex after seeing their twitter post regarding a symposium on focal therapy they held in Birmingham for the annual BAUS meeting and wondered if they might consider holding something similar in Leeds.  Since our initial contact they have both been hugely helpful in organising an excellent venue, liaising with Alistair Grey so he was able to share his knowledge and experience with us, and communicating with attendees for dietary requirements etc, even down to sorting parking for them. Their communication throughout has been faultless.

The evening itself was excellent, with a hugely informative talk from Alistair, excellent catering and surroundings in which we could converse and collaborate, and topped off with a live demonstration where we performed electroporation on a potato! We have had local discussions regarding launching a focal therapy service in Leeds for some time, and this symposium has given us the evidence, energy and enthusiasm to take this forward. Alistair focussed not only on IRE but also other focal therapy modalities including HIFU and cryotherapy, and provided the evidence for each along with his own personal, expert experience.

I can’t thank the team at Aquilant enough for organising this event, and I look forward to working with them in the future.  If you are considering setting up a focal therapy service in your region, I would not hesitate to ask the team at Aquilant if they would consider holding a similar event in your region to kickstart your plans.”

The next focal therapy symposium is planned for February 2024!