The future of interventional oncology will not be defined by technology alone but by how effectively new techniques are integrated into clinical care. That message resonated throughout the European Conference on Interventional Oncology ECIO 2026, held in Basel from 26 to 30 April.
Experts gathered at the European Conference on Interventional Oncology ECIO 2026 in Basel to discuss the latest advances in minimally invasive cancer care.CIRSEsociety
Immunotherapy combinations: evidence is building
The first positive randomized controlled trials combining ablation-based therapy with systemic immunotherapy came last year. In Basel, the field was already discussing what comes next. Amongst them was Prof. Dr. Martijn Meijerink, a professor of interventional oncology at Amsterdam UMC, who is hoping for more positive data in the near future.
The implications extend beyond a single procedure or tumor type: "That exciting new era where we are combining systemic immunotherapy with our local regional therapies will hopefully open a lot of doors and in the future help improve the outcome of our patients," he told OncoDaily at the congress.
On IO's established role, he was unambiguous: "We are now, for many of the solid tumor types, the first-line treatment for small tumors within the liver, within the kidney, within the lung, and I think that's going to increase, because we can offer equal outcomes to surgical resection, but with a much lower number of complications."
Combining local and systemic approaches
The biological rationale for combining local and systemic approaches was addressed by Prof. Lambros Tselikas, MD, PhD, University Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Anesthesia, Surgery, and Interventional Medicine at Gustave Roussy, who leads a research group focused on intratumoral immunotherapy delivery.
"The combinations of immunotherapies and local treatments have been shown to be complementary, you can use local treatments to bypass immune resistance, but they can also synergize together and have better outcomes," he said in Basel.
He noted that adoption remains uneven: "We know that the adoption of interventional oncology is not the same across countries. We need to keep on standardizing these procedures to improve the quality and the outcomes we have for our patients."
Professor David James Pinato, Director of Developmental Cancer Therapeutics at Imperial College London, brought the medical oncology perspective. His research on neoadjuvant immunotherapy in liver cancer has shown that checkpoint inhibitors before surgery can reduce disease burden and may improve relapse rates.
Patient selection and multidisciplinary imperative
The open question is patient selection. "We're doing a lot of work on biomarkers of the disease, and to try and identify who are the patients that respond and don't respond to immunotherapy, and this is an ongoing effort in this field," he said at the congress.
Dr. Brad Wood, director of the Center for Interventional Oncology and chief of interventional radiology at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, referenced a recent trial combining cryoablation with an immunotherapy cocktail that reported high response rates in otherwise resistant metastatic prostate cancer.
On the broader role of artificial intelligence he said: "I think AI is going to play a role as an augmentation tool. Being able to leverage the data and knowing what patient is going to respond when and who's susceptible to what treatment has moved to a whole different era with the onset of multimodal agentic AI."
Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Helmberger, Head of the Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Neuroradiology and Nuclear Medicine at München Klinik Bogenhausen, addressed the patient selection challenge that underpins all of this.
"Should we, or can we, apply all these techniques to all types of tumors? Basically, yes, but it should be meaningful and useful." The decision, he said, belongs in a multidisciplinary tumor board that weighs disease type, extent, and treatment intent together.
Ambition as a clinical strategy
For hepatocellular carcinoma, Prof. Laura Crocetti, MD, PhD, EBIR, an associate professor in the division of interventional radiology at the University of Pisa, described how that works in practice -- tumor board discussion for every patient, ablation and surgery considered equivalent first-line options up to three centimeters, with liver function, fibrosis severity, and tumor location all factoring into the final choice.
Dr. Jean Palussière, ECIO 2026 chairperson and interventional radiologist at Institut Bergonié in Bordeaux, framed the congress's broader direction. "We have to be clinical as much as possible, and not only a technique, that's very important," he said.
ECIO 2026 brought together interventional oncologists, medical oncologists, and researchers from across the globe to shape the next phase of the specialty.CIRSEsociety
That meant integrating medical oncologists into faculty panels, expanding the breast cryoablation program, and running a dedicated patient communication workshop. "We need to have with the patient pre and after the intervention in order to follow the patient, it's crucial for us."
The honorary lecture at ECIO 2026, the inaugural Thierry De Baère Lecture, was delivered by Prof. Afshin Gangi, MD, PhD, chairman of radiology and nuclear medicine at the University Hospital of Strasbourg. Reflecting on a career shaped by early resistance to tools now considered standard, Gangi addressed the tension between ambition and caution that runs through the field.
"The real issue is fear of the unknown," he told attendees. He described interventional MRI as an important goal the field should pursue without apology, and closed with the words: "Be ambitious. Don't go to your CEO asking for 100,000. Go asking for millions. If your vision is strong enough, they will listen."
ECIO 2027 will take place in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, from 1 to 5 May.
