(P 220) PROMOTING GLOBAL EDUCATION IN THE FIELD OF RETROPERITONEAL SARCOMA: THE FIRST OPEN-ACCESS EDUCATIONAL WEBINAR SERIES BY THE TRANSATLANTIC AUSTRALASIAN RETROPERITONEAL SARCOMA WORKING GROUP

Objective: The Transatlantic Australasian Retroperitoneal Sarcoma Working Group (TARPSWG) created an Education Committee (EC) in 2021 with the aim to promote global education in the field of retroperitoneal sarcoma (RPS) among junior faculty and trainees. To meet this goal the EC designed an educational webinar series (https://tarpswg.org/webinars/) that was endorsed by the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS), the Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) and the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO). With the webinar series we aimed at spreading principles of best management of RPS patients, discussing controversial clinical topics, reviewing the relevant literature in the field of RPS, and discussing clinical cases with an educational purpose. Here we present the results of the 2021-2022 Educational Webinar Series in terms of contents, participation and inclusiveness.

Methods: The webinar series was sponsored through the TARSPWG, CTOS, SSO and ESSO mailing lists and social networks. International experts were invited to participate in the webinars as speakers or moderators based on their expertise and ensuring multidisciplinarity. Throughout the webinars, invited speakers presented more recent advances in RPS multidisciplinary treatment, discussed clinical cases with an educational purpose and utilized surgical videos to showcase surgical techniques. All recordings were posted in the TARPSWG YouTube Educational Channel. Statistics of webinars attendance are presented in terms of unique and total viewers. Inclusiveness among the faculty was analyzed in terms of gender and country of participation.

Results: Between September 2021 and May 2022, five live open-access 90 minutes webinars took place via Zoom, every 6 weeks. Main topics were: diagnostic principles of retroperitoneal masses (imaging, biopsy technique, pathology), surgical and multidisciplinary management of primary RPS (histology-tailored surgical treatment, medical treatment, radiotherapy), sarcoma referral centers and patient advocacy groups, postoperative morbidity, and treatment of recurrent and metastatic disease (Table 1).
Among registrants to the webinar series, 33% were General Surgery or Surgical Oncology attendings, 21% were Surgical Oncology fellows, 16% were General Surgery residents. Other registrants included Medical Oncology (15%), Radiation Oncology (3%) and other (12%; pathology, radiology, researchers) providers (Figure 1). The median number of unique viewers per webinar was 126 (range 72-167) while the median number of total users was 188 (range 101-241). Among the attendees, there was representation from 64 countries across five continents (Figure 2). Overall, 29 sarcoma experts participated in the webinars as presenters and/or moderators. Among them, 17 (59%) were male while 12 (41%) were female, 14 (48%) were from Europe and 15 (52%) from the USA or Canada. Following the live webinars, YouTube recordings of the events were viewed 1026 times overall. The median number of Youtube views per webinar was 255 (range 40-348).

Conclusion: Residents and fellows from multiple specialties attended the webinars series. Despite the series being designed specifically for trainees, a large proportion of the attendees included surgical oncology, pathology, medical oncology and radiation oncology attendings, demonstrating the multidisciplinary interest in RPS. In terms of inclusiveness, the webinar series reached a good gender balance among the faculty. Presenters/moderators from Europe and US/Canada were equally represented while the different time zones hampered the chance to host experts from Asia or Australia in the live sessions. The series reached countries that are commonly less involved in the TARPSWG activities, and this type of educational tool could be used to improve and harmonize the management of patients with RPS across international health systems. The next webinar series is being planned for September 2022. It will be histology-based with plans for increased translational research topics.

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