We see a fair number of odd x-ray images in the ESR office, especially in the search for interesting stories for our Facebook pages. Some can make your stomach turn, some make you laugh, and others just make you think ‘ouch!’ This picture of a foot unnaturally contorted in a high heel shoe naturally caused the latter response…
A little digging around on the internet for ‘shoes’ and ‘x-rays’ found a possible source of this image but it also revealed a slightly alarming shady past that radiology and shoes have in common. We’re all aware of the benefits of radiology that nearly everyone gets to experience at least once in their life, but throughout history x-ray technology and radiation have also been used for some, let’s say, ‘questionable purposes’. One of those is certainly the shoe fitting fluoroscope.
My wife, who works in a primary care centre, sent this case to me. The patient is a 76 year-old male, who was operated on three years ago for carcinoma of the larynx. The PA and lateral radiographs show two nodular lesions in the lower lung fields.
The obvious response is metastatic disease. But the Muppet, trying to impress both of us, suggested an alternative diagnosis.
Clinical history: asymptomatic 75 year-old man, operated on ten years ago for carcinoma of the larynx. Current chest radiographs were obtained during the yearly routine control.
These days there is practically no better way to show people what you do and what you offer than in the form of a short video. It has many clear advantages over other methods and is one of the best ways to combine an insight, a glimpse of all the various aspects of the subject and even to catch some of the atmosphere if done correctly. That’s where it gets difficult.
We had a great cameraman working with us at ECR 2011, who captured a whole catalogue of moments on video. Beside his good eye he also had some very nice equipment (a Canon 5D Mark II) and managed to catch some great shots that show the more emotional side of the meeting: people anxious about their lectures, cheering, a lot of laughing and excitement. Even some lovebirds enjoying a musical performance from one of our ‘ESR Meets’ countries.
Using a DSLR camera has pros and cons. As always, when used the right way you can create stunning results that are comparable with the work of great photographers because you are using the same tools. I have already mentioned that we got some really nice shots, so my first decision was to create a traditional video, using all those strong pictures and some fitting music. The result was a two-minute-long video, scored by some elegant classical music, which was nice to watch.
Dear friends, welcome to Caceres’ Corner. The objective of this post is to remember basic principles of chest imaging, with the emphasis on conventional radiography. Interpreting a chest radiograph is becoming a lost art and I would like to slow this tendency by reviewing the current approach to chest x-ray.
Nowadays, the initial question when facing a chest radiograph should be: “is there any abnormality present? And, if so, should we do any additional examination?” (CT in the great majority of cases).
With this approach in mind, let’s start with a sample case: 62 year old male with liver cirrhosis and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. No other symptoms. History of pulmonary tuberculosis 20 years ago.
ECR 2011 delegates flock into the Austria Center Vienna
Vienna has long been a popular tourist destination, as any visitor in search of last minute accommodation will bitterly tell you.
But holidays are not the only reason to come and relish the remnants of the Habsburgs’ golden age, and a trained eye will often be able to spot many visitors carrying congress bags instead of back packs.
For the past 12 years, in the beginning of March, these bags have invariably displayed the logo of our own European Congress of Radiology (ECR), but many other professions, medical or otherwise, also choose to meet in Vienna. So many, in fact, that the city has recently topped a chart of the most popular congress destinations in the world… for the sixth time in a row!
This time we didn’t have to travel very far for another episode of our congress coverage, just a couple of stops on the underground and we found ourselves once more at the Austria Center Vienna (ACV), every ESR employee’s second home. But this time there was a difference, 35 degrees outside and the danger of getting sunburn while walking from the underground station to the ACV. So, this is clearly not a story about the ECR, which always takes place in rather more temperate March (and also will take place in March 2012). No, this time nearly the whole ESR staff came to the Austria Center to participate in and help to set up a unique event that has never happened before and will never take place in this form again; the world congress of ultrasound (WFUMB) in conjunction with the EUROSON (congress of the EFSUMB) and the ‘Dreiländertreffen’ (three-country meeting) of Austria, Germany and Switzerland’s ultrasound societies (ÖGUM, DEGUM, SGUM), all held together on 26–29 August, 2011.
One of the big advantages of having our main congress in March is that the ACV is much more comfortable in the cooler times of the year because for some reason it’s easier to heat the building up than to cool it down. On the second day of the congress a big thunderstorm hit Vienna which, besides a lot of rain, brought a welcome drop in temperature. But enough about the weather, after all, our participants came for the congress and its scientific highlights.
The print edition of the ECR 2012 Preliminary Programme
It’s probably more than clear that we’re big fans of the internet at the ESR office. We’ve embraced speedy online publication for our congress and journals, we’ve turned our hand to the snappy world of social media (including, obviously, our recent launch into the blogosphere), and we’ve created a whole catalogue of online tools for learning, booking and planning in the last few years. But as much as we love exploring and testing these new possibilities, doing the traditional things still gives us just as much satisfaction. That’s why, despite our own efforts to cut down on print production, we couldn’t resist printing a few hundred ECR preliminary programmes to share with you, which we’re delighted to be giving away and delivering free on a first-come-first-served basis.
Greece. For some people it’s the perfect destination for their vacation. For some archaeologists it is the perfect place to dig. And for us it was the perfect destination for the Annual Scientific Meeting of the European Society of Musculoskeletal Radiology. Us – that’s Manuela, David, Wolfgang and myself, Maja. The European Society of Musculoskeletal Radiology held its 2011 congress from June 9–11, 2011 in Hersonissos, Crete. It was the first time an ESSR Scientific Meeting has been organised by us – a premiere and therefore quite a big challenge for Manuela and Wolfgang, the main organisers of the event. David and I accompanied them as their personal congress gophers, moral support and Red Bull suppliers.
From the first moment we arrived at the airport in Heraklion we were welcomed by the amazing Greek hospitality, impressively represented by our troubleshooter, Michalis Vlatakis from Summerland Travel, our cooperating travel agent in Crete: a loud “Yassas” (Hello), welcome presents for all, flowers for the ladies and a calming “Nooo problem, this will be the best congress Crete has ever seen” by Michalis. Ευχαριστώ! (Efharisto means “thank you” in Greek)
Besides hosting the annual ECR in March, the ESR office makes an effort to be present at most of the larger radiology meetings around the globe, whether it’s just around the corner in Hamburg/Germany at the German Radiology Congress or much further away at the Chinese Radiology Congress in Zhengzhou/China. In order to give you an insight into our activities around the world, we hereby present ‘ESR Abroad’. In this first instalment we give you a run-down of our recent visit to the Iranian Congress of Radiology in Teheran/Iran, the annual meeting of the Iranian Society of Radiology (ISR), who participated in the ESR meets programme at ECR 2011.
Before you go to Iran you need to apply for a visa, which can be done either at the local Iranian embassy or directly at the airport in Teheran, but to avoid any difficulties it makes a lot of sense to get a visa before you get on your plane to Iran. We were in the lucky position that two business visa reference numbers were applied for us by the Iranian Society of Radiology so we had no problems applying for visas and entering the country.
