Dear Friends,

Over the last couple of years, one of the last sessions at the ECR has always covered 20 interesting cases from various subspecialties, which the audience are asked to solve in an interactive way to broaden and update their knowledge.

In between, the very best submissions from the global radiological community have been presented in an interlude lecture. The best submission has always been awarded with a prize and a certificate.

Due to time limits, only a small number of submitted cases can actually be shown onsite, but the session’s rising popularity has resulted in increasing numbers of submissions of excellent quality. This is why we would like to give our submitters the opportunity to reach a broader audience by posting the best cases here on the ESR Blog.

Read more…

The winners of the ECR 2016 Cases of the Day Quiz are as follows:

S.A. Sohaib; Sutton/UK
Kemal Kara; Istanbul/TR
Ersin Ozturk; Istanbul/TR
Bertram Feil; Zurich/CH
Miguel Nogueira; Marinha/PT
Yu Kuo; Taipei/TW
Filip M.H.M. Vanhoenacker; Antwerp/BE
Bilal Battal; Ankara/TR
Floor van der Wolf – de Lijster; Sneek/NL

To view the cases please click here.

Congratulations to all winners!

guest post by Dr. Rowland Illing, Affidea Chief Medical Officer

The healthcare industry as a whole has become increasingly sub-specialised, some would say fragmented. Many more healthcare professionals are involved in each patient’s care than in the past and this has both advantages and disadvantages. Amidst the complexity, there is a risk of losing focus on the patient. As with all advanced healthcare practices, the trend in radiology will, or at the very least should, tend towards a patient-centred approach to care provision. Coordinating such a vast system of referral, diagnosis, treatment and recovery therapy is a complex job in itself. The personal touch is all too easily forgotten. Services are delivered in a way that fits the system, rather than with actual patient needs.

The human factor in providing healthcare services

The challenge for the future will not be in advancing technology even further, that progress is well under way. Rather the challenge is to re-orientate today’s healthcare around the patient and develop treatments, therapies and processes that provide a holistic solution to their given healthcare needs.

Read more…

ECR Today spoke with the new ESR/ECR President, Prof. Paul M. Parizel, from Antwerp, Belgium, to learn about this new position, his visions for the society and his ideas for next year’s congress.

Prof. Paul M. Parizel, chairman of Antwerp University Hospital’s department of radiology and full professor of radiology at the University of Antwerp’s faculty of medicine, is the incoming ESR/ECR President.

ECR Today: You are the first officer of the European Society of Radiology to take on the new position of combined ESR/ECR President. Could you please briefly explain to our readers how this change came about and what it means? What are your main tasks and responsibilities in this position?
Paul M. Parizel: It is a great honour, and also a huge responsibility, to assume this new position of combined ESR/ECR President. The ESR is one of the most important and prestigious international scientific societies, with more than 63,000 members throughout the world. The ECR is well established as the foremost congress in radiology in Europe. Until a few years ago, nominations and elections for the ‘cursus honorum’ of the ECR and ESR were made independently of each other. This implies that we have had brilliant presidents of our society, who never became president of the congress, and vice versa. As both the society and the congress were getting bigger, and more mature, it was decided to re-evaluate and retune the strategic plan and to change the statutes so that appointments were fully integrated, instead of running on parallel tracks, as was previously the case. Bringing the congress and the society under one and the same leadership umbrella is an efficient way to better utilise our resources (human, political and financial). I am convinced that this will improve communication with our members, enhance our international standing and facilitate relationships with other societies and with the industry.
This combined ESR/ECR presidency is certainly a daunting task, and I admit that I am a little bit nervous. On the other hand, I can rely on the work of my predecessors and especially on the creative input and unflagging energy of my friends and colleagues of the Board of Directors, the Executive Council, the statutory committees, subcommittees, working groups, and, last but not least, the experience, professionalism and efficiency of the ESR staff. Our society is healthy, both politically and financially, and we are steering a stable and steady course.

Read more…

Dear Friends, dear Colleagues

I hope you are looking forward to the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) 2016 as much as I am. Every year I love being at this wonderful event and it is a great privilege to be taking part as the Congress President this year. The task of putting together the programme for this year’s congress has been long, but very enjoyable, and I would now like to introduce a few of the highlights to you.

ECR 2016 Congress President, Prof. Katrine Riklund, from Umeå University Hospital, Sweden.

First of all, the ‘ESR meets’ sessions are always among the most anticipated every year and are a great example of how our congress brings people together from throughout the world. This year you will have the chance to learn about some fascinating topics, such as breast radiology in the Nordic countries, state-of-the-art radiology in Japan, and the transition from practice to reality in Colombia. It is important to note that these sessions are not aimed just at attendees from the guest countries, but at everyone, with the idea that you can discover something new. The same can be said of our guest discipline, nuclear medicine, which will feature in a joint session on hybrid imaging. You can also witness the launch of the new European Society for Hybrid Medical Imaging (ESHI) at the congress, and I encourage you to visit the ESHI booth in the entrance hall, where you can pick plenty of information about the new society.

The new formats introduced to the educational programme last year, under the European Excellence in Education E3 heading, will remain this year, which means you will find sessions with the right level of complexity, wherever you are in your professional development. From the Rising Stars Programme to the ECR Master Classes, there is something to suit everyone, and the sessions are marked with the knowledge level they are intended for. I strongly suggest seeking out your level and making the most of these sessions.

Read more…

ECR Today spoke with ECR 2016 Congress President, Prof. Katrine Åhlström Riklund, deputy head of the department of radiation sciences and director of the medical school at Umeå University, Sweden, to find out a little bit about next year’s annual meeting.

ECR 2016 Congress President, Prof. Katrine Åhlström Riklund, from Umeå, Sweden.

ECR Today: What will be the highlights of ECR 2016?
Katrine Åhlström Riklund: It is hard to tell what the specific highlights will be more than one year ahead, due to the rapid development of imaging. The highlights will be the entire congress through its well-developed programme, which covers the whole range of education from student level to advanced subspecialists. I should say the added content of hybrid imaging in several sessions would make the programme even more attractive. Besides the educational and scientific programme, the grand opening ceremony and social activities will also be memorable events.

ECRT: Will there be any new additions to the programme?
KAR: As always, there will be innovations at the ECR. The content of hybrid imaging will be spread across several sessions and not in one single session. The new session formats introduced at ECR 2015, with the European Excellence in Education (E3) programme – divided into five levels (the Rising Stars programme, European Diploma Prep Sessions and Beauty of Basic Knowledge programme, ECR Academies and ECR Master Classes) will be continued. These levels cover the entire span from undergraduate medical education to subspecialised continuing professional development. Getting involved in the sessions is important for retaining knowledge.

Read more…