"News in oncology in 2015" was the theme of the 23rd Annual Congress of the Moroccan Society of Oncology (SMC), which held its sessions on the 1st and 2nd of the current month in a grand palace in the city of Fes.

Some 300 oncology specialists and Moroccan and foreign experts, notably from France and Belgium, examined therapeutic news in colorectal, prostate, breast, and ENT oncology. Dr Ali Tahri, president of the Moroccan Society of Oncology, an NGO founded in 1992, affirmed that the essential goal of this scientific event was to "contribute to the continuing education of oncologists, including young practitioners, and to inform them about therapeutic innovations in oncology".

This congress indeed dealt with news in breast, prostate, cervical, colorectal, and ENT cancers, as well as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. This event also included a conference-debate on palliative chemotherapy and the medical, ethical, religious, and philosophical aspects of the management of metastatic breast and colorectal cancers. According to members of the SMC board, including doctors Ramdani, Filali, Hadadi, Bensouda, Mellas, Acharki, and Loughmari Saïda, statistics carried out at the Rabat-Casablanca axis reveal that Morocco records some 40,000 cancer cases per year, with a prevalence of breast, uterine, lung, and prostate cancers.

They affirmed, during a meeting with the press, that the SMC counted more than 300 oncologist members from the public and private sectors, including surgeons, radiotherapists, medical oncologists, and anatomical pathologists. Among the main missions of the SMC are the organisation of scientific events, the promotion of postgraduate education in oncology, and the contribution to any action aimed at promoting preventive and curative measures in the field of oncology.