Meeting of MECCA in Riyadh

The Middle East Children's Cancer Association (MECCA) met in Riyadh on the occasion of the Cancer 2002 meeting which took place between October 14 and 16, and which was organized by the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. In the course of the MECCA meeting, which was coordinated by Dr Abdallah Al-Nasser, several important areas of pediatric oncology were discussed. Six of the participating countries have agreed to explore the development of a joint protocol for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It was decided that the treatment protocols used by the India Leukemia Study Group would provide a model for this project, and that a meeting would be held in Spring 2003, with a follow-up joint meeting with the ILSG at the Annual Meeting to discuss the specific treatment protocol design