Abstracts

Abstract submission will open 11 February 2026

Abstract topics

Breast

Colorectal

Endocrine Head & Neck

HPB

Melanoma

PSM

Sarcoma

UGI

Abstract presentation types

Oral presentation

8 Minute presentation in the abstract sessions of the ESSO 45 scientific programme.

Poster in spotlight

5 minute presentation during the coffee break at the poster in spotlight stations.

Poster will be also on display for the full congress.

ePOSTER SUBMISSION

Poster on display on the ePoster screens for the whole duration of the congress.

Kindly note that this presentation type does not have a dedicated time slot.

Surgical trial proposal

Abstracts for proposals in the advanced stage of development, but not yet open for recruiting patients at the time of ESSO 45.

Top 3 highest scoring proposals will be presented during the Dragon’s Den session.

Abstract guidelines

The abstract must be submitted in good English.

The Scientific Committee reserves the right to reject abstracts presented in poor English or request an immediate revision by the presenting author.

No more than 20 authors can be listed.

E-mail address, institutional affiliation, city, and country must be filled in.

For cooperative study groups, the group’s name should be used instead of individual institutional affiliations or include the group’s name in the abstract’s title.

The title of the abstract should be concise and accurately describe the study.

Do not use non-standard abbreviations and commercial names (generic names only).

Abstracts should be structured to include the following 4 sections:

Background: introductory sentence specifying the purpose of the study
Material and methods: a brief description of relevant experimental procedures
Results: summary of the results of the investigation
Conclusion: a statement of the main conclusions

Surgical Trial Proposals:

Hypothesis: what is the hypothesis being tested?
Intervention(s): which intervention(s) will be administered to study participants?
Design: what is the experimental design? Superiority versus non inferiority, single versus multiple groups, randomized or not,…
Primary endpoint(s): specify the study’s primary endpoint, that was used to calculate the sample size
Secondary endpoints
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Sample size calculation: specify the hypothesized effect size and precision, power, type I error, and required sample size
Expected impact or patient benefit: motivate why the results of the study will advance the field and/or benefit cancer patients

Only one data table is permitted in the body of the abstract. Illustrations and figures are not allowed and will be deleted if submitted.

Surgical Trial Proposals:

No data table is permitted.

Abbreviations may be used if standard or if spelled out and defined at the first use.

Compounds should be mentioned with the generic name, in lower cases. Commercial names are admitted in the text, with an ®, and if in brackets following the generic name, i.e., “generic (Commercial ®)”.

Abstracts and surgical trial proposals can only be submitted online.

Abstracts and surgical trial proposals submitted by e-mail or fax will not be considered. The abstract submission system for the ESSO 45 will only be accessible on the congress website.

Step-by-step instructions will be provided within the submission system. Submitters can submit and/or edit their abstracts until the deadline of 6 May 2026.
Once an abstract or surgical trial proposal has been submitted it can not be edited.

An e-mail confirming receipt of the abstract or surgical trial proposal submitted online will be sent to the presenting author.

An abstract number will be allocated and should be mentioned for any queries relating to the submitted abstract or surgical trial proposal.

Abstracts submitted for presentation at the ESSO 45 Congress will be reviewed by a panel of experts in the field of the subject and will be judged solely on the data submitted.

The final decision on the presentation format of all selected abstracts lies at the sole discretion of the Scientific Committee.

All authors will be informed the first week of July 2026.

The abstract and surgical trial proposal submission deadline is 6 May 2026.

How to submit

1. Login to the ESSO Platform or create a new account

Once logged in, click on the button ‘ESSO 45 Abstract submission’ to start your submission. If you have not yet created an account, click on ‘Sign up’. Fill in all the required details, activate your account, and then you can start submitting your abstract.

If you wish to submit a surgical trial proposal, click on the submit surgial trial proposal button

2. Click on the button "New Abstract"

Check if your contact info is correct or adjust if needed.

The contact details should be of the submitter not the presenter (only if the submitter is not the same as the presenter).

You can indicate yourself or a co-author as a presenter later.

3. Select the main topic of your abstract

Select the topic of your abstract.

If your topic is not listed, we can not accept the abstract.

4. Select your presentation preference

Your preference will be taken into strong consideration, however, the Abstract Reviewers may adapt it based on the feedback.

Surgical Trial Proposals that are not selected for the Dragon's Den session will be considered as ePoster Display.

5. Write down the title of your abstract

You will find guidelines about the title on the platform.

Your title is limited to 200 characters.

Once ready click on next.

6. Indicate whether you have a conflict of interest or not

If you have a conflict of interest to declare, fill it in the COI text box.

Please be as brief as possible.

7. Enter your abstract to the appropriate textbox

The charachter limit is 2.400 charachters. This includes spaces.

8. If you have co-authors, you can add them by clicking on the button ‘Add a new co-author’.

Fill in all the required details. You can add up to 20 co-authors.

Indicate in this step who the presenter will be. Confirmation of the submission will be sent to the presenter and submitter. the presenter will remain the further contact point.

9. Add keywords that are relevant to your abstract

These keywords will be used to easily browse for posters on our congress platform.

You will have to add at least 1. You can add up to 9 keywords.

10. Carefully check all the details you see in the confirmation tab

If there is anything incorrect, please click ‘Back’ and correct it.

If everything is correct, you can proceed to submit or draft your abstract.

11. If you completed your submission, you can either click ‘Submit’ or ‘Save as Draft’

Once you submit, you will not be able to edit your abstract. If you select Save as Draft, you can return to make adjustments if needed.

Please note that abstracts in draft are not automatically submitted upon the deadline.

12. If you submitted or drafted an abstract, you will receive a confirmation email

Kindly note that a drafted abstract does not mean abstract submission.

The review starts immediately after the abstract submission deadline.

The results will be available in the first week of July. The indicated presenters will be informed.

Abstract policies and Regulations

With the submission of an abstract or surgical trial proposal to ESSO 45 Congress, the presenting author:

Accepts responsibility for the accuracy of the submitted abstract or surgical trial proposal.
Accepts to be the contact person for all correspondence regarding the abstract and informs co-authors of its status.
Confirms that all authors are aware of and agree to the content of the abstract or surgical trial proposal, and support the data presented.
Warrants that the data and conclusions presented in the abstract or surgical trial proposal has not been published in the same format and with the same title prior to the date of the ESSO 45 congress.
States that for all studies involving human or animal subjects, permission has been obtained from the relevant regulatory authority and informed consent given where appropriate.
Identifies, obtains and discloses any financial interest in products or processes described in the abstractor surgical trial proposal for all authors. This includes stock ownership, membership on an advisory board or board of directors, corporate-sponsored research, and other substantive relationships.
Releases the copyright on behalf of all authors to ESSO and gives permission for the abstractor surgical trial proposal, when selected for presentation, to be published in a supplement issue of EJSO- the European Journal of Surgical Oncology, as well as on the ESSO 45 website. The copyright of the abstract remains with the author(s).
Commits to register and attend ESSO 45 if the abstract or surgical trial proposal is selected*. Costs associated with the submission and presentation of an abstract are the responsibility of the presenter. Selected abstracts will only be published in EJSO if the presenting author is registered and attends the Congress in person.

* In case the presenting author is not able or available to present the accepted abstract or surgical trial proposal, a co-author must be appointed to present the abstract or surgical trial proposal and must be registered, please inform the ESSO Secretariat at congress@essoweb.org about this change.