On May 14-17, 2024, the next edition of the “La Cantera” workshop was held in Lecce, Italy. Among the 18 participants from all over Europe were also doctors from Poland: Michal Kurlapski from UCK in Gdansk and Marcin Szymanski from PIB-NIO in Warsaw. La Cantera is a project under the auspices of the EHA and the Italian Lymphoma Treatment Foundation, and its president is Prof. Stefano Luminari. It is a meeting of “players” (following the model of the Spanish club FC Barcelona recruiting and training young players for its club) who under the guidance of a world-class “coach” undergo an intensive course in selected issues of hematology.
This year’s lectures were given by world-renowned hematologist, Prof. Anna Sureda, from Spain. The main topic was broadly defined cellular therapies used in the treatment of lymphoma. The workshop was aimed at sharing experiences and discussing the challenges of daily clinical practice. In addition to interactive lectures, a key element of the meeting was the opportunity for networking and collaboration to create international research projects, which were then evaluated by a panel of experts. This year, the title of the best was won by the project of the Polish-French-Italian-Spanish group entitled. “Predictive factors of progression after bispecific antibodies in relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma”.
Italian hospitality and excellent organization also contributed to the success of the event. Participants had the opportunity to integrate in the evening, learn about local cuisine and culture.
With PLRG’s help, it is planned to take advantage of the Italian experience and transfer it to the country. It is possible that soon it will be possible to implement a similar meeting in Poland as well. Meanwhile, we heartily recommend the “La Cantera” course to all those interested in the topic of lymphoproliferation.
