ECR Today spoke with the incoming ESR President, Prof. Lluís Donoso Bach, Director of the Diagnostic Imaging Department of the Hospital Clínic of the University of Barcelona and Executive Director of the UDIAT Diagnostic Centre at the Health Corporation Parc Taulí, to find out about his plans for the ESR over the coming year.

New ESR President, Prof. Lluís Donoso Bach

ECR Today: What will be your priorities as ESR President?
Lluís Donoso Bach: The ESR has a good track record in education and we will continue to innovate through the ECR. We will also open new learning centres in Vienna and Bogotá and are planning a further centre in Moscow.
Because of the financial crisis, it is more important than ever that we develop efficient systems, so we will increasingly rely on electronic, web-based services for our members. This is why we decided to launch the ESR eLearning Platform. This represents a big challenge, and we will see how it works as a business model and how our members use the platform throughout the year. We will also try to offer an examination for the European Diploma in Radiology online. There are a lot of experiences and successful models to draw inspiration from.
We will also continue our efforts in research through the European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR). The ESR Research Committee has been working a lot on the quantification of data using biomarkers and biobanks, focusing in particular on oncology and trying to have more influence in that area. Quality and safety is another very important issue for us. During ECR 2015, we launched ESR iGuide, a clinical decision support system for European imaging referral guidelines, following the example set by the American College of Radiology with ACR Select.
We also want to offer our members tools to improve quality in their departments. The ESR Quality, Safety and Standards Committee has thus created Level 1 clinical audit templates based on safety. We should also explore the possibility of performing quality controls at the level of department management.
Lobbying with European institutions has been an important field of battle for us in the past few years, and we will consolidate our action in this field keeping the momentum and relying on the personal contacts and networks established over the past years. We launched a Call for a European Action Plan for Medical Imaging in the European Parliament on November 4, to highlight existing heterogeneities in medical imaging in Europe in the areas of quality and safety, education and training, research, and eHealth, and to call for joint targeted actions to improve harmonisation in these areas.

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Watch this session on ECR Live: Sunday, March 8, 8:30–10:00, Room E1
Tweet #ECR2015E1 #NH17

Besides personalised imaging, a new paradigm is emerging in radiology that should re-shape clinical practice and benefit the patient immensely. Supported by new technologies that enable radiologists to image the body faster and better, radiologists are now trying to broaden their focus during examinations.

If there is a field where these advances make a tremendous difference, it is cardiothoracic imaging, an area where diseases are more often than not intertwined. Cardiovascular and chest radiologists will explain how the comprehensive personalised approach impacts their work and try to convince radiologists on both sides to take an interest in the other, in a New Horizons session on Sunday at the ECR.

For years, the trend was for radiologists to subspecialise as much as they could. Cardiovascular radiologists and chest radiologists would focus on their own area with little or no interest beyond that. But among these subspecialists, an increasing number are now changing their approach, as mounting evidence shows that diseases of the heart and chest are very often related, according to Dr. Christian Loewe, deputy head of the section of cardiovascular and interventional radiology at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

Dr. Christian Loewe is deputy head of the cardiovascular and interventional radiology section at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

“In the past patients were investigated by either focusing on chest or cardiac diseases. This choice was mainly driven by their first clinical examination. However, there are a lot of situations and diseases where chest problems are caused by cardiac diseases and vice versa. There’s a huge interaction between heart and chest, and that’s why it’s interesting and important to look at this relationship in more detail today,” he said.

To prove his point, Loewe, a cardiovascular radiologist, will talk about acute and chronic chest pain during the session. Some of the most severe causes of chest pain are due to cardiovascular diseases, including myocardial infarction or acute aortic diseases. However, acute chest pain can also be caused by a number of pulmonary diseases, including pulmonary embolism, pneumonia and others. Therefore, radiologists must learn the different life-threatening disorders that cause chest pain, whether they are respiratory or cardiovascular.

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Every Scientific Session at ECR 2015 includes a vote for the best paper of the session. Below are all of the winners for Saturday, March 7. Congratulations to all of the winners!

Winner: SS 1402 – B-0920 Paola Clauser
Joint Winner: SS 1406 – B-0930 Jamal Guenoun
Joint Winner: SS 1406 – B-0938 Philipp M. Kazmierczak
Joint Winner: SS 1410 – B-0941 Freek de Bruin
Joint Winner: SS 1410 – B-0947 Guillaume Lefebvre
Winner: SS 1411 – B-0958 & B-0959 Hanne Christensen
Winner: SS 1416 – B-0967 Francesco Giganti
Winner: SS 1401 – B-0978 Francesco Carbonetti
Joint Winner: SS 1404 – B-0987 Elodie Gyssels
Joint Winner: SS 1404 – B-0990 Ilaria Merli
Joint Winner: SS 1404 – B-0991 Maria T.A. Buzan
Winner: SS 1409 – B-0993 Pierleone Lucatelli
Winner: SS 1407 – B-1009 Andreas M. Hötker
Winner: SS 1414 – B-1015 Martin W. Kusk

Since the discovery of the x-ray, radiology and radiation oncology have been sister disciplines. Recent progress has brought increasing points of interaction between the two and this is no better exemplified than by the close relationship between the ESR and the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO). The two societies will host a joint session at ECR 2015 focusing on this partnership and opportunities for future collaboration. To find out more about the session, ECR Today spoke to session co-chairman and ESTRO president, Prof. Philip Poortmans, of the Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Prof. Philip Poortmans, President of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology, will moderate today’s joint session on radiology and radiation oncology.

ECR Today: How was this joint session between the ESR and ESTRO first initiated?
Philip Poortmans: The time of medical specialties working on their own is over. It is now all about cooperation and multidisciplinarity. Often when we talk about multidisciplinarity, people think only about doctors who are directly involved in treating the patient. In the case of breast cancer, for example, this would then be the surgeon, the radiation oncologist, the medical oncologist and in several countries also the gynaecologist. People often forget about diagnostic specialists like the pathologist and the radiologist. Radiation oncology is very closely linked to imaging in general; both to radiology and to nuclear medicine. So it is a field that is very important for us and a specialty with which it is essential for us to cooperate closely. For many years, ESTRO has run courses with contributions from radiologists and nuclear medicine specialists to teach our young colleagues, or colleagues who want CME, about the contribution of the diagnostic specialties. So this is not new at all. ESTRO and the ESR have an especially close relationship, with the former president of ESTRO, Prof. Vincenzo Valentini, and the ESR president, Prof. Lorenzo Bonomo, working in the same hospital. People in such positions who know each other very well can facilitate this process of close collaboration which then benefits us all. Of course, this means that last year we already had a joint session at the ECR. This collaboration is based on a Memorandum of Understanding signed by both societies, which includes agreements about education, guidelines, and scientific dissemination. A congress is of course always a mixture of both scientific dissemination, bringing new findings to the community, and education, so this nicely fits our mutual commitment.

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Every Scientific Session at ECR 2015 includes a vote for the best paper of the session. Below are all of the winners for Friday, March 6. Congratulations to all of the winners!

Winner: SS 1001 – B-0841 Elisa Guidi
Joint Winner: SS 1002 – B-0759 Barbara Bennani-Baiti
Joint Winner: SS 1002 – B-0767 Claudio Spick
Winner: SS 1003a – B-0792 Gert Jan Pelgrim
Winner: SS 1003b – B-0905 Thula C. Walter
Winner: SS 1004 – B-0852 Martine Remy-Jardin
Winner: SS 1008 – B-0882 Anuradha Chandramohan
Winner: SS 1009 – B-0862 Hester J. Scheffer
Joint Winner: SS 1010a – B-0801 Melissa N. Ong
Joint Winner: SS 1010a – B-0809 Anna Palmisano
Joint Winner: SS 1012 – B-0889 Marco Salsano
Joint Winner: SS 1012 – B-0895 Frederica Papadopoulou
Winner: SS 1010b – B-0916 Vasiliki Perlepe
Winner: SS 1011 – B-0818 Arturs Balodis
Winner: SS 1013 – B-0782 Marco Das
Winner: SS 1014 – B-0873 Lee R. O’Hora
Winner: SS 1015 – B-0768 Andreas Gutzeit
Winner: SS 1016 – B-0831 Salvatore Donatiello

Every Scientific Session at ECR 2015 includes a vote for the best paper of the session. Below are all of the winners for Thursday, March 5. Congratulations to all of the winners!

Winner: SS 601a – B-0426 Christian Grieser
Winner: SS 602 – B-0444 Ruxandra-Iulia Milos
Winner: SS 605 – B-0455 Maria Twomey
1st Winner: SS 601b – B-0460 Evelien F.W. Gryspeerdt
2nd Winner: SS 601b – B-0464 Sophie Lombardi
Winner: SS 603a – B-0468 Giulia Benedetti
Winner: SS 615 – B-0482 Juana María Plasencia Martínez
Winner: SS 610a – B-0487 Silvia Mariani
1st Winner: SS 611 – B-0507 Judith Gadde
2nd Winner: SS 611 – B-0509 Chi Long Ho
Winner: SS 616 – B-0518 Alessandra Casiraghi
Winner: SS 612 – B-0526 Carola V. Pul
Winner: SS 604 – B-0537 Kaman Chung
Winner: SS 609 – B-0548 Aglaé Velasco
Winner: SS 607a – B-0559 Borna K. Barth
Winner: SS 610b – B-0567 Ruud H.H. Wellenberg
Winner: SS 608 – B-0583 Patrick Asbach
1st Winner: SS 607b – B-0590 Jung Myung Kim
2nd Winner: SS 607b – B-0591 Tümay Bekci
Winner: SS 603b – B-0603 Marcello Petrini
Winner: SS 701a – B-0607 Zsofia D. Drobni
1st Winner: SS 702 – B-0619 Matthias Dietzel
2nd Winner: SS 702 – B-0624 Hildebrand Dijkstra
Winner: SS 715 – B-0630 Vladimir Aznaurov
Winner: SS 710 – B-0646 Frank W. Roemer
Winner: SS 711 – B-0658 Aram S. Tonoyan
Winner: SS 716 – B-0666 Souhail Bennani
Winner: SS 713 – B-0680 Andreas Stratis
Winner: SS 704 – B-0690 Jong Hyuk Lee
Winner: SS 709a – B-0701 Christina Loberg
Winner: SS 707 – B-0706 Derya Yakar
1st Winner: SS 709b – B-0721 Vanessa Acosta Ruiz
2nd Winner: SS 709b – B-0723 Giovanni Mauri
1st Winner: SS 708 – B-0728 Stefan M. Niehues
2nd Winner: SS 708 – B-0730 Moritz H. Albrecht
Winner: SS 701b – B-0743 Martina Pancot
Winner: SS 703 – B-0746 Paul Stolzmann

Watch this session on ECR Live: Thursday, March 5, 16:00–17:30, Room L1
Tweet #ECR2015L1 #PC8B

Imaging large cohorts of people enables scientists to collect information useful for science and emphasises radiology’s role in healthcare. From the most recently available imaging biomarkers to data such as genomics and metabolomics, Thursday’s dedicated Professional Challenges Session will show just how useful population imaging studies have become in the prognosis of countless diseases.

When radiologists follow a cohort of people for 20 or 30 years, the benefits for the patient increase tremendously. If a radiologist performs a CT examination of a patient’s coronary arteries and finds calcification, chances are that the patient will have a heart attack within the next few years. Unfortunately at this stage, the patient is usually out of the radiologist’s reach.

The fluid-attenuated inversion recovery axial image of a 26-year-old female participant shows multiple, bilateral, asymmetric, linear and ovoid hyperintensities that are located perpendicular callososeptal characteristic of multiple sclerosis

However, if patients chose to participate in a population study, they will be checked on a regular basis, and radiologists will be able to access previous information and initiate appropriate treatment earlier, significantly
improving patient outcome.

Securing imaging data is always tricky and population imaging studies are an opportunity for radiologists to access this data. Showing the relevance of imaging findings highlights radiology’s role in the medical continuum, according to Prof. Norbert Hosten, of the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University in Greifswald, Germany, who will chair
the session Thursday.

“Our way to prove that radiology can make people healthier and happier is to do large population imaging studies. Radiology can develop the kind of data that are necessary to prove that our methods really help the patient,” he said.

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Watch this session on ECR Live: Thursday, March 5, 8:00–10:00, Room E2
Tweet #ECR2015E2 #PC5A

Radiology is changing. Its possibilities are expanding; its place in healthcare has evolved. However, it has also become more vulnerable to financial turmoil. The future of the profession will depend on how radiologists decide to act and how well they can cope with external factors, a panel of experts will explain during today’s Professional Challenges Session at the ECR.

Prof. Gabriel Krestin,
from Erasmus MC,
University Medical Center
Rotterdam, will
speak about upcoming challenges
for radiologists in today’s session.

The emergence of quantitative imaging and the development of imaging biomarkers are transforming the face of radiology. An increasing number of biomarkers are being validated and accepted as measures for prognosis, diagnosis or therapy monitoring. The transition from research to clinical practice has started in many areas, and clinical radiologists have become aware of this evolution. They must learn how to use these new tools, but it is tempting to resist change, especially when it brings extra work, according to Prof. Gabriel Krestin, professor and chairman of the department of radiology at Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

“Radiologists don’t like to perform measurements in daily practice because they are not used to it. They haven’t been trained for that and it’s time consuming. For instance, if you do a cardiac examination, extracting quantitative data from that examination takes up to 30 minutes, so you need dedicated personnel to do that – preferably radiographers. The workflow of the radiologist could be seriously disrupted if he/she had to perform such extensive post-processing of images, and the consequence would be a decrease in efficiency, particularly because nobody pays for the additional measurements,” he said.

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Every Scientific Session at ECR 2015 includes a vote for the best paper of the session. Below are all of the winners for Wednesday, March 4 (including a tie for session SS 217). Congratulations to all of the winners!

SS 201a – B-0009 Jeong Min Lee
SS 202a – B-0017 Eimear A. Joyce
SS 206 – B-0029 Johannes Grueneisen
SS 201b – B-0034 Aman Wadhwani
SS 203a – B-0055 Michelle C. Williams
SS 215 – B-0061 Alvaro M. Morales Vargas
SS 210 – B-0067 David J. Wilson
SS 211a – B-0077 Martin Lillholm
SS 216 – B-0097 Ali Sabri
SS 213 – B-0107 Sonja Gordic
SS 202b – B-0113 Marcus Lobbes
SS 209 – B-0121 Alessandro Posa
SS 207 – B-0140 Valeria Vinci
SS 214 – B-0145 Susanne H. Kivistö
SS 208 – B-0154 Karolina Markiet
SS 212 – B-0168 Wieying Kuo
SS 203b – B-0174 Francesco Laffranchi
SS 217 – B-0193 Claudia Frellesen
SS 217 – B-0194 Aman Wadhwani
SS 211b – B-0203 Desirée H.J.L. Koopmanschap
SS 302a – B-0210 Amro N.J. Masarwah
SS 301a – B-0219 Ankur Arora
SS 302b – B-0231 Nuala A. Healy
SS 305 – B-0244 Esther E. Bron
SS 301b – B-0258 Jens Maier
SS 303a – B-0266 Mihály Károlyi
SS 315 – B-0278 Michael Rasper
SS 310 – B-0282 Georgina M. Allen
SS 311a – B-0299 M. Ihab S. Reda
SS 316 – B-0314 Andrea Contegiacomo
SS 313 – B-0315 David J. Lurie
SS 304 – B-0329 Wouter J. Heerink
SS 309 – B-0347 Francesco Arrigoni
SS 307 – B-0356 Matthias Haas
SS 314 – B-0358 Erica Buttigieg
SS 308 – B-0377 Hillel S. Maresky
SS 312 – B-0385 Charlotte M. Nusman
SS 303b – B-0394 Thomas Elgeti
SS 317 – B-0408 Max E.R. Marsden
SS 311b – B-0418 Maria Correia de Verdier

Watch this session on ECR Live: Wednesday, March 4, 16:00–17:30, Room E2
Tweet #ECR2015E2 #PC4A

Remember HAL 9000, the murderous computer in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’? This scenario doesn’t seem too far off when it comes to radiologists and the constant evolution of their technology. Luckily, they can still stay in control if they change their behaviour and remain at the head of the imaging process, experts will argue during a Professional Challenges session today at the ECR.

Radiologists must claim their place in the medical team if they are to survive. They must come out of the shadows and show that they can bring added value to the team, according to Jim Reekers, professor of interventional radiology at the University of Amsterdam, who will chair the session.

Jim Reekers, from the
University of Amsterdam, will
chair the session on the role of the
radiologist.

“I want to make my colleagues aware that they should step out of their offices and act as doctors who work in multidisciplinary teams. Being the photographers or doctors who only give a report with a picture will not secure their future and the reason is very simple: anybody can make and look at a picture nowadays. The difference the radiologist brings is that he or she can give an interpretation of the picture within the context of a patient’s clinical situation. So the radiologist should become a doctor who gets involved with the patient’s situation,” he said.

There is more than one way to do this. For starters, to be on the same level as clinicians, radiologists must behave as such. That means they have to do more than just show the images in multidisciplinary team meetings, they have to sit and discuss them with the doctors.

“Have a junior show the images for you. While my junior presents the pictures, I am sitting together with the other specialists, and suggesting treatment and follow-up options or further diagnostic investigation. It is important to sit with the other doctors. There’s a big difference in how people see me. I’m one of them instead of being the guy who shows the pictures,” Reekers said.

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