A word from the Director

We are proud to present the fourth edition of The Breast Course. Hard for us to believe that what we set in motion in 2005 is now continuing, better than ever, four years later ! That is all thanks to your continuing support: faculty, exhibitors, and above all, participants. Thank you for believing in us !

This year's rallying cry says it all: back for more ! True to our mission of delivery the best in breast care education, we are back in historic, exquisite Quebec City to deliver a program that counts more learning opportunities than ever before !

In 2008 our star-studded cast of experts in breast care joins us yet again. This exceptional cadre of teachers - Stephen Harms, Philip Israel, Robert Kuske, Michael Lagios, Joseph Ragaz, Philippe Sebag, Tom Stavros - is complemented this year by three "new" recruits, surgeons Sarkis Meterissian, MD and Naim Otaky, MD, alongside technologist Tanja Onedamdy. Nancy Wadden, MD is also making a comeback as our expert in mammography.

Our main feature this year will be our GUARANTEED WORKSHOP LOADING. Yes, you read that right - you are guaranteed a spot on the workshops that you select. We have listened to your requests from previous years, and have organized TBC08 in such a way that each workshop will be given over, and over, and over again - as many times as needed, in order to accomodate your participation. Take advantage of that offer, and get to meet the experts and try-out the equipment in our sessions on practical stereotactic biopsy, basic and advanced ultrasound biopsy, MRI biopsy, MRI and sonography imaging, balloon and interstitial brachytherapy ! We are also featuring a brand-new workshop on ultrasound guidance in surgery sure to please surgeons and of interest, in fact, to all participants.

Our emphasis is more than ever on small, image-detected breast cancer. To this end we devote even more time than before this year on high-risk lesions and DCIS, with strong emphasis on rad/path correlation. We plan to get to the bottom of these issues in order for you to leave with clear, evidence-based practice guidelines that you can apply immediately. We have also allowed more time for debates on the contentious issues of the day, and the course will also feature our ever-popular live cases, broadcast via satellite to the conference hall.