On November 2 to 4, 2017 the Office of Continuing Medical Education (CME) at the American University of Beirut Medical center (AUBMC), organized the first Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) Middle East Satellite and Middle East Prostate Cancer Consortium (MEPCC) meeting.  Held at the Gefinor Rotana Hotel in Beirut, the conference was co-chaired by Dr. Raja Khauli and Dr. Deborah Mukherji.  

Panelists addressed topics such as access to specialized imaging, surgery and novel therapeutics in the region as well as challenges to the implementation of multi-disciplinary management of prostate cancer. A selection of consensus questions from the St. Gallen APCCC, held in Switzerland in March 2017 and which involved 60 international prostate cancer experts including Dr. Raja Khauli, were discussed and voted upon by the attendees. The purpose of the Q and A was to elicit consensus recommendations specific to the Middle East. 

This international multidisciplinary conference was endorsed by the Lebanese Society of Medical Oncology and the Lebanese Society of Urology. Speakers included local and regional experts in prostate cancer management such as urologists, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, and imaging specialists. Faculty members and trainees from AUBMC and other teaching hospitals in Lebanon participated in the meeting that was also attended by urologists and oncologists from Iraq and Syria. Amongst the attendees were Dr. Danny Rabah, Chairman of the Department of Urology, King Saud University Medical City Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Dr. Saad Aldousari, assistant professor of surgery at Kuwait University.

Dr. Aurelius Omlin, medical oncologist and co-chair of the original St. Gallen Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference and Dr. Bob Djavan, Chairman of Urology at the Rudolfinerhaus Foundation Hospital in Vienna and member of the scientific committee of the European Association of Urology were invited to the conference to shed light on their experience and moderate the discussions.  

The conference proved to be a success especially since it highlighted specific challenges in the management of advanced prostate cancer and the need for multi-disciplinary management. A manuscript containing the regionally-focused consensus recommendations is in preparation for publication in a medical journal.