Dear Friends,
Today I am feeling magnanimous, because vacation is approaching. I have prepared an easy case of a 75-year-old man with cough and moderate fever. What would you diagnose?
1. Lobar pneumonia
2. Carcinoma
3. Tuberculosis
4. None of the above
Dear Friends,
Muppet is afraid of losing our audience and insists on showing easy cases. Here we are presenting radiographs belonging to a 54-year-old man with skin lesions.
What do you see? Check the images below, leave your thoughts in the comments section, and come back on Friday for the answer.
This is your chance to win free registration for ECR 2015, Europe’s biggest and best imaging meeting. Simply leave your answer to the question below, as a comment on this post, before November 24 (note: comments are now closed). All correct answers will be entered into a draw and a winner will be selected by the editor of ESR News. The winner will be contacted by email by December 1. Please note that the competition is open to ESR members only.
Question: what is the most likely diagnosis?
A. Mesenteric desmoid tumour
B. Mesenteric lymph node metastase of a small bowel NET (carcinoid)
Click here to reveal the answer
Congratulations to the winner of this month’s competition, Dr. András Székely, who recieves free registration for ECR 2015!
Thank you to all participants and well done to those who got the correct answer. Your next chance to win free registration for ECR 2015 will appear in the December issue of ESR News.
Dear Friends,
Radiographs of this week’s case belong to a 55-year-old woman, referred to our hospital for percutaneous biopsy of a lung lesion. Leave your thoughts and diagnosis in the comments section below and come back for the answer on Friday.
Diagnosis:
1. Carcinoma
2. Tuberculosis
3. Congenital lesion
4. Any of the above
Talking to our own members is obviously important to the ESR, but communication with the public and other groups of radiologists is high on the agenda too. This is why the ESR has its own Communication and External Affairs Committee, which is responsible for relations with patient groups and international societies, as well as various other initiatives. We spoke to the committee chairperson, Prof. Boris Brkljačić, to find out a little about the committee’s functions and his own role.
ESR Office: What is your background within the ESR committee structure and what motivates you to be involved?
Boris Brkljačić: I have been involved in ESR activities for more than a decade. I have been the national representative of the Croatian Society of Radiology on two ESR committees and was involved in ESR activities while I was president of Croatian Society of Radiology. I was also a member first of the Finance Committee, and then of the Communication and External Affairs Committee (CEAC) during the chairmanship of Dr. Luigi Solbiati. After that I served from 2011 to 2014 as chairman of the ESR Finance and Internal Affairs Committee, and in March 2014 I was elected chairman of the Communication and External Affairs Committee. I have been involved in the organisation of several ECRs as a member of the programme planning committee and of two subcommittees, and I was the local organiser of one of the first ESOR courses in 2007, in Dubrovnik. I am also a member of the ESR working group on economics. Being involved with the ESR is very stimulating and motivating. It is a well organised, large and efficient professional society. The benefits for members are many, and the ESR’s activities are especially beneficial for countries that are smaller and have fewer resources, not only in the educational sense but also in the sense of professional activities and the harmonisation of the practice of radiology on the European level.
Prof. Boris Brkljačić, chair of the ESR Communication & External Affairs Committee
ESR: What is the main purpose of the Communication and External Affairs Committee and how does it operate?
BB: The Committee is responsible for liaison with other European and international societies, public relations initiatives of the society, coordinating activities related to the International Day of Radiology, activities related to the Patient Advisory Group in Medical Imaging, activities related to the International Summit at ECR, and it is also involved in the EU agenda. The committee consists of a chairman and four members at large (currently Prof. Philippe Grenier, Prof. Fermin Saez, Prof. Paul Sidhu and Prof. Mustafa Ozmen), as well as the president and 2nd vice-president of the ESR. The chairman of the European School of Radiology (ESOR) and the executive director of the ESR are ex officio members without voting rights. The members meet in person during the ECR, and otherwise communicate electronically.
Dear Friends,
Today we are showing radiographs of a 61-year-old man who has had several pulmonary infections during recent years.
What do you see? Leave your thoughts in the comments section and come back for the answer on Friday.
With its slogan ‘radiology without borders’ ECR 2015 embodies the spirit of European cooperation: bringing together imaging experts from all around the world to exchange and discuss the latest trends in their discipline. One of the best examples of ECR’s commitment to international collaboration is the ‘ESR meets’ programme, which invites three national radiological societies to present facts about imaging in their country, and a partner discipline to focus on its cooperation with radiology.
Germany, home to ECR President Prof. Bernd Hamm from Berlin, will kick off the programme on Friday with a session organised by the German Radiological Society (DRG) and entitled ‘Tradition goes digital: getting ready for the future’.
“This session will deal with changes facing radiologists as their world becomes digital; this does not refer to digital imaging modalities but rather to aspects of new options for radiologist training, population-based imaging and hybrid imaging techniques,” Prof. Hamm said.
“Today, in many areas of life, digitisation is the most important trend. Radiology, due to its everyday use of technology, is at the forefront of medical specialties in this respect. Digitisation, as we all know, needs a conscious effort on the part of the user: as radiologists, we do not want to be led but to lead. So we should stop a moment and think how digitisation impacts our profession. Some examples will be given in the session,” said DRG President Prof. Norbert Hosten from Greifswald, who will co-moderate the session.
Dear Friends,
Showing today pre-op radiographs for knee surgery of a 17-year-old girl. Check the images below, leave your diagnosis in the comments section and come back on Friday for answer.
Diagnosis:
1. Branchial cyst
2. Neurogenic tumour
3. Lymphocele
4. None of the above
The ESR spoke with Manuela Messmer-Wullen, president of the Austrian Stroke Self-Help Association (SHÖ) and liaison officer for the Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE), about the long-term effects of stroke, how it can be prevented and how imaging can help provide a crucial time-saving diagnosis.
ESR: What is the overall aim of your organisation in Austria and what exactly do you do to achieve this goal?
Manuela Messmer-Wullen: Our mission is to inform the public about the burden of stroke, inform them on how to prevent stroke and support those who have been affected by stroke with information regarding their rehabilitation. We also provide support for carers, as well as information on where to find the right rehabilitation facilities, medical support, access to treatments, etc. We lobby, in general, for a better situation for stroke patients and their carers, to give them all a voice in the Austrian healthcare system. I do this work on a voluntary basis, without financial support from the state; projects are financed by individual funders. My personal investment of knowledge, time, energy and power is made in an effort to give stroke patients and their carers a better quality of life in Austria.
ESR: How many members do you have? Who are they?
MMW: In several Austrian states there are different groups run by individuals, therapeutic staff and medical professionals. SHÖ is the umbrella organisation for stroke patients and its membership is made up from many different patient groups who support their members across the country and within different fields.
Manuela Messmer-Wullen, president of the Austrian Stroke Self-Help Association (SHÖ) and liaison officer for the Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE)
ESR: Stroke affects an increasing number of people worldwide. Do you think current Austrian health policies are well suited to tackling the issue?
MMW: Not at all, there is no special information pointing out that stroke itself is a brain attack. Stroke is often obscured by the term ‘cardiovascular disease’. This term is used by the media for simplicity and much of the public is unaware that it includes stroke. It would be more helpful to use the individual terms, stroke and heart attack more often. The public has to be informed about the danger of stroke and its possible consequences, like disability. Stroke affects the brain and can damage a lot of functions. Most people have no idea about these facts. Once they have this basic information about stroke, we can start educating them on how to prevent it. Stroke is the only brain disease that can, in certain circumstances, be prevented. People need to be informed of the necessary lifestyle changes.
A short preview of lecture A-458 ‘B. Pulmonary’, from the session E³ 1520 ‘Thoracic emergencies’ at ECR 2014, given by C.M. Schaefer-Prokop from Amersfoort, Netherlands. Watch the whole lecture and many more at http://ipp.myESR.org Direct link: http://bit.ly/Thoracic_emergencies
Abstract: Acute respiratory failure can have multiple underlying causes including infection, fluid overload, immunological diseases or exacerbation of preexisting lung disease. Since the clinical symptoms are nonspecific, imaging plays an important role. The first imaging method is mostly the chest radiograph, easy to access and to obtain, but non-diagnostic in many cases. (HR)CT offers more possibilities to define the differential diagnosis. The option of this interactive workshop will be to get familiar with the spectrum of diseases that can cause acute respiratory failure and learn about key findings in radiography as well as CT to reduce the differential diagnosis. The interaction between preexisting lung disease, clinical information (e.g. chemotherapy, rheumatoid arthritis, COPD) and imaging findings will be discussed using clinical case studies. Options and also limitations of imaging findings will be illustrated. The following scenarios will be taken into account: acute cardiac failure and various appearances of oedema; acute immunological-toxic disorders including drug-induced lung disease and inhalational injuries; exacerbations of preexisting lung disease including fibrotic and obstructive lung disorders; severe infections causing respiratory failure and their complications.
