Prevention committee

The Prevention Committee was established in 2019 to fulfil the ESGO vision: Best treatment and prevention in gynaecological cancer. ESGO has set as its mission to improve the health and well-being of women with gynaecological cancers through prevention, research, excellence in care and education. The Prevention Committee is therefore one of the cornerstones to ensure the fulfilment of its mission.

The Chair of the Prevention Committee is Prof. Murat Gultekin.

Committee Goals

Facilitate systematic research, issue scientific publications, and disseminate findings in the prevention and treatment of pre-invasive diseases.
Raise public and governmental awareness and advocate about gynaecological cancers, their prevention and treatment through ENGAGe.
Collaborate with professional societies, patient advocacy organisations, policymakers and other stakeholders to advance gynaecological cancers prevention and care.
Contribute to cervical cancer elimination in Europe in line with the WHO elimination programme 2030. Decrease mortality and extend life of gynaecological cancer patients in line with the EU Beat the cancer plan.

Committee Motto

Filling the scientific gap by providing scientific evidence on topics related to prevention and treatment of pre-invasive disease
Bridging the East and the West by sharing the expertise of ESGO professionals with colleagues in Lower and Middle Income Countries via virtual conferences, webinars, and on-site screening pilot projects

Committee Structure

Prevention Committee Chair: Murat Gultekin

Prevention Committee Members:

Frederic Amant, Marc Arbyn, Nicolo Bizzarri, Kimon Chatzistamatiou, Daniela Fisherova, Mihaela Grigore, Reda Hemida, Elmar Joura, Vesna Kesic, Maria Kyrgiou, Claudia Marchetti, Zoltan Novak, Mario Preti, Jalid Sehouli

Committee Members At-Large:

Utku Akgor, Esat Bilal, Sarah Bowden, Laia Bruni, Laura Burney Ellis, Murat Cengiz, Volkan Ege, Dimitrios Haidopulos, Houssein El Hajj, Nicolo Gallio, Omar Gassama, Livia Giordano, Charlotte Goutallier, Joana Kacperczyk-Bartnik, Belen Lopez, Edina Lukacs, Anita Mitra, Nagham Ibraheem Mahdi, Afraa Mahjoob Al-Naddawi, Gadelkareem Nassar, Eva-Maria Niine-Roolaht, Milena Perišič, Patrick Petignat, Alejandra Picconi, Zoia Razumova, Jalid Sehouli, Aleksandra Shavrova, Nadja Taumberger, Charalampos Theofanakis, Icó Tóth, Andreas Ullrich, Zvi Vaknin, Alexandra Wagner, Ignacio Zapardiel

Webinars

Webinar: Vulvar and vaginal cancer epidemiology and screening

11th December, 7 pm CET

+ Vulvar and vaginal cancer epidemiology (Prof. Marc Arbyn, Dr. Sharon Dhillon)

+ Management of VIN (Prof. Mario Preti)

+ Management of VaIN (Prof. Vesna Kesic)

Moderators: Prof. Murat Gultekin, Dr. Kimon Chatzistamatiou

Please register for this webinar here.

All Prevention Committee webinars are available on the eAcademy portal

Click on the link to see them all.

Committee Publications

Publications 2024 Publications 2023 Publications 2022 Publications 2021 Publications 2020 Publications 2019

Publications 2024

Advancing cervical cancer prevention in Africa: ESGO’s strategic initiatives and collaborative efforts, H. El Hajj, published in IJGC Corners of the world, September 2024
Criteria for second generation comparator tests in validation of novel HPV DNA tests for use in cervical cancer screening, M. Arbyn, published in Wiley Journal of Medical Virology, August 2024
Validated HPV tests usable in cervical cancer screening on clinician-collected cervical specimens, M. Arbyn, published in HPV World, July 2024
UPDATE of the ESGO-ISSVD-EFC-ECSVD Consensus statement on the management of pre-invasive vaginal lesions, M. Preti, published as a joint publication in IJGC and LJGTD, June 2022 with additional graphs
Genital tract microbiota composition profiles and use of prebiotics and probiotics in gynaecological cancer prevention: review of the current evidence, the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology prevention committee statement, The European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO) Prevention Committee Statement. M. Kyrgiou, January 2024, published in Lancet Microbe

Publications 2023

Genital tract microbiota composition profiles and use of prebiotics and probiotics in gynaecological cancer prevention: review of the current evidence, the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology prevention committee statement, The European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO) Prevention Committee Statement. M. Kyrgiou, December 2023, published in Lancet Microbe

ESGO EFC European Consensus Statement on Expert Colposcopy, published in the European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, August 2023
The European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO), the International, Society for the Study of Vulvovaginal Disease (ISSVD), the European College for the Study of Vulval Disease (ECSVD), and the European Federation for Colposcopy (EFC) consensus statement on the management of vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia, published in IJGC and LJGTD. V. Kesic, March 2023
ESGO Prevention Committee opinion: is a single dose of HPV vaccine good enough? Society statement, published in IJGC, M. Onur Kamani, March 2023
Quality assurance in human papillomavirus testing for primary cervical screening, published in IJGC, M. Cuschieri, February 2023

Publications 2022

ESGO-ISSVD-EFC-ECSVD Consensus statement on the management of pre-invasive vulvar lesions, M. Preti, published as a joint publication in IJGC and LJGTD, June 2022
Accuracy and effectiveness of HPV mRNA testing in cervical cancer screening: a systematic review and meta-analysis, M. Arbyn, published in Lancet Oncology, June 2022
Myths and Fake Messages about HPV Vaccination: Answers from the ESGO Prevention Committee, N. Taumberger, published in IJGC
Terminology for cone dimensions after local conservative treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and early invasive cervical cancer: 2022 consensus recommendations from ESGO, EFC, IFCPC, and ESP, M. Kyrgiou, published in Lancet Oncology

Publications 2021

ESGO/EFC/IFCPC/ESP Terminology for dimensions of cone after local conservativetreatment for cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia and early invasive cervical cancer, M. Kyrgiou Accepted for publication in Lancet Oncology.
ESGO-ISSVD-EFC-ECSVD Consensus statement on the management of pre-invasivevulvar and vaginal disease, M. Preti (Accepted as joint publication in IJGC and LJGTD).
ESGO list of HPV assays that can be used for cervical cancer screening, M. Arbyn, M. Gultekin.
Gynaecologic oncology on the global health agenda: A wake-up call. Gynaecologic Oncology.
HPV Prevention and Control – The Way Forward, The Lancet (in process of publication)
Self-tests in pregnant women (in the process of publication)
Accuracy and effectiveness of HPV RNA testing in cervical cancer screening: systematic review and meta-analysis (in process of publication)

Publications 2020

2020 list of human papillomavirus assays suitable for primary cervical cancer screening, Clinical Microbiology and Infection.
Tackling cervical cancer in Europe amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, The Lancet.
World Health Organization call for action to eliminate cervical cancer globally, International Journal of Gynaecological Cancer.
Patient engagement in research on rare gynaecological tumours, International Journal of Gynaecological Cancer.
European Federation for Colposcopy (EFC) and European Society of Gynaecological Oncology
(ESGO) joint considerations about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, screening programs, colposcopy, and surgery during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, International Journal of Gynaecological Cancer.
HPV Vaccination: The Position Paper of the Italian Society of Colposcopy and Cervico-Vaginal Pathology (SICPCV), ESGO involvement
Effective approaches towards eliminating cervical cancer from low-and middle-income countries amid COVID-19 pandemic, International Journal of Gynaecological Cancer.
The European response to the WHO call to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem, International Journal of Cancer.
Cervical screening: ESGO-EFC position paper of the European Society of Gynaecologic Oncology (ESGO) and the European Federation of Colposcopy (EFC), British Journal of Cancer.
European consensus statement on essential colposcopy, European Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Reproductive Biology.
ESGO contribution to the WHO initiative on elimination of cervical cancer, International Journal of Gynaecological Cancer.
Perspectives, fears and expectations of patients with gynaecological cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Pan-European study of the European Network of Gynaecological Cancer Advocacy Groups (ENGAGe), Wiley, Cancer Medicine.

Publications 2019

Cooperation with key stakeholders

World Health Organization has launched ''Cervical Cancer Elimination Program'' on November 19, 2020.

The program asks the countries to vaccinate the girls under 15 years of age (90% coverage), to screen females by minimal two times when they are 35 and 45 (70%) coverage and to treat the lesions detected appropriately (in 90% of cases).

Modelling studies show that if all countries can implement the program until 2030 and can achieve these targets, there will be a 30% reduction in cervical cancer mortality by 2030 and the cervical cancer may be eliminated until the end of this century (namely incidence less than 4 \ 100.000).

ESGO Prevention committee has joined in to fulfil the WHO cervical cancer elimination strategy as a leading European actor in prevention.

European projects

RISCC: Risk-based Screening for Cervical Cancer

ESGO/ENGAGe is involved in the Horizon 2020 RISCC project.

Within the RISCC project ESGO / ENGAGe is responsible for the co-creation of the e-health/m-health platform for risk based cervical cancer screening and for the dissemination of the results to 12 ENGAGe member countries. This project is planned for five years and intended to terminate in 2025.

For more information about the ESGO/ENGAGe involvement please use the following link.

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