Dear friends and colleagues,
It will be a great honour for me to greet each of you at the next ISC Congress that will take place in St.Petersburg from October 1st to October 4th, 2009. Prof Gueorgui Prokhorov, President of the meeting who will be our host in his dazzling home town, is organizing the event so that we may all be welcomed in the most appropriate manner.
Right from its origin the World Congress of Cryosurgery has represented preeminent chance for face-to-face contacts, open debates, as well as scientific and technological updates in the field. In recent years thanks to technological improvements that allow its employment with ever less invasive methods, cryosurgery has been enriched by new areas of applicability. Beijing 2007 gave monumentum to the impulse to connect cryosurgery with immunology and throughout the world it is bearing the fruit of promising clinical applications.
The XIV WCC has been a great success for other reasons as well: not only did it outline the world-wide state of the art in cryosurgery, but it offered a unique opportunity to people of proven expertise to meet their peers. Whether the rendezvous occurred during the challenging congress sessions or within the frame of social gatherings, they have been precious seeds out of which international cooperation is growing and growing an unquestionable benefit to cryosurgery globally.
It is therefore my whole-hearted wish to see you attend our next congress in even greater numbers: I am sure that the warm and friendly atmosphere of the noble city that will give us hospitality will enhance this stimulating possibility to meet and compare notes again.
I am expecting you at the XV World Congress of Cryosurgery in St.Peterburg!
Franco Lugnani MD
President of ISC
XVth WORLD CONGRESS OF CRYOSURGERY
St.Petersburg, Russia 1-4 October 2009
