
Innovation management and the future of radiology
At this year’s ECR the first of two Management in Radiology (MIR) sessions addressed the issue of innovation management and future challenges.

At this year’s ECR the first of two Management in Radiology (MIR) sessions addressed the issue of innovation management and future challenges.

Not such a rare situation: A patient is due for an MRI scan to clarify a diagnosis. However, it transpires that this patient is fitted with an implant, say an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), which is contraindicated for MRI examinations.

The future will be aesthetic or, put another way, Art meets Science. With this motto, the 43rd Congress of the German Society for Endoscopy and Imaging Procedures e.V., jointly held in Munich with six other specialist associations, demonstrated that aesthetic means the brilliance of images generated by the latest generation of X-ray, CT, MRI and ultrasound equipment.

Loading high performance functions on highly portable ultrasound systems puts life-saving tools in the hands of trauma physicians, John Brosky reports.

How the different advanced cardio vascular imaging technologies fit together in managing cardiac patients, will be one of the main themes explored at the International Conference on Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiac CT (ICNC 11).

Here comes a new, aesthetic look and feel of display systems, advanced LED technology, and cranked up luminance enhancing image quality: imaging specialists from Barco are taking their displays to the 21st century.

“We finally have tools to non-invasively study the human brain in normal subjects and diseased patients,” says Professor Stefan Sunaert, Head of Translational MRI at the Department of Imaging & Pathology at Leuven University Hospital (Belgium).

At ECR 2013 Hitachi Medical Systems Europe will for the first time in Europe be showcasing Noblus, an advanced versatile and compact ultrasound platform.

It is an every-day occurrence in any emergency department: patients presenting with severe flank pain. In roughly 50 percent of these cases, the pain is caused by a stone. 15 percent of all men and six percent of all women suffer from stones in kidney, ureter, bladder or urethra at least once in their lifetime

Management in Radiology (MIR): this ESR subcommittee is dedicated to management topics, developments in eHealth, and major trends in the discipline.

ESR President Gabriel Krestin introduced a major theme for the society's congress with personalized radiology. "There is nothing more personal in healthcare than a medical image," he told fellow radiologists.

Staging of cervical cancer is clinically based on a system developed by the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO). The staging is clinical because the majority of cases occur in developing countries where access to MRI is limited, explains gynaecological radiologist Dr Evis Sala.

Hedvig Hricak, Chair of the Radiology Department at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA, describes emerging applications and potential trends in gynaecological cancer treatment described at the 15th International Symposium Crossing Barriers

DMS (Diagnostic Medical Systems) is thrilled to unveil, for the occasion of the ECR 2013, the newest breakthrough in bone health management: 3D-DXA.

A UK hospital is assessing trauma patients by taking them directly for CT scans rather than to the A&E department. Piloted at King’s College Hospital, this new approach to assessing patients with life-threatening injuries aims to speed up diagnosis by conducting CT simultaneously with patient resuscitation and stabilisation.

New business ventures, new systems – and those include 3-D mammography

CT scanners now nicely cover morphology. The challenge is moving to CT functional imaging without frying patients

ECR’s Josef Lissner Honorary Lecture commemorates the co-founder of the European Congress of Radiology who passed away in 2006.

Radiologists work in dark, strange places often hidden in the basement of hospitals. Few doctors or medical staff visit these labyrinths, and for good reason.

For the 19th consecutive year the annual meeting of the European Society of Radiology (ESR), the European Congress of Radiology (ECR), takes place in Vienna.

"If you want to compete in C-arms, you have to specialize," says Martin Herzmann with Ziehm Imaging.

Across the globe, up to 400 million people carry the hepatitis B virus, and more than 180 million – approximately 400,000 in France – are infected with the hepatitis C virus.

You won't find a single new machine among the novel technology shaping radiology. Instead software, not hardware, is the key that is opening new frontiers.

The use of endotracheal tubes with a dorsal lumen to allow drainage of respiratory secretions is currently not common in Germany, although two meta-analyses from the USA and Canada have already demonstrated that this special technique can reduce ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) by 45-50%.

The last decade saw PET and now PET/CT numbers expand rapidly in Europe. More recently the picture has been less rosy with public and private sectors delaying new projects and pushing back the replacement of equipment.