Latest Updates From Leading European Associations

MIR Announces Call for Abstracts

Management in Radiology (MIR) has announcedthat the deadline for abstract submissionfor its forthcoming annual scientificcongress, to be held in Athens, Greecefrom October 29 – 31, 2008, will be Friday,July 18, 2008.

Submissions should be no longer than 350 words and delivered by sending an email in Microsoft® Word format - including purpose/ methods and materials/results/conclusions to Mrs. Amanda Jelley at the following email address:

[email protected].

A preliminary list of programme topics for this annual imaging management congress will soon be available online.

The congress will be held in Athens, Greece, at the following location: Hotel Astir Palace, Apollonos 40 Str., 16671 Vouliagmeni, Athens/GR

Congress registration information is available on the MIR website at www.mir-online.org.

Topics Announced for 2008 Congress

The annual CARS, ISCAS, EuroPACS, CMI, and CAD four-day congress 2008, to take place in Barcelona, Spain from June 25 – 28, 2008, consists of invited talks by internationally recognised experts, over 200 paper presentations, as well as exhibits and posters. Special focus sessions as well as product exhibits in the industrial exhibition are planned, to give participants access to hot topics and new CARS-related products.

Congress Topics

22nd International Congress and Exhibition on Computer Assisted Radiology

• Medical Imaging, e.g. CT, MR, US, SPECT, PET, DR, Molecular Imaging, and Virtual Endoscopy

• Computer Assisted Cardiovascular Imaging

• Image Processing and Display

• Medical Workstations

• Interventional Radiology

• Minimally Invasive Spinal Therapy

• Image Guided Diagnosis and Therapy of the Prostate

• Ablation Therapies

• Image Guided Radiation Therapy

• Nanotechnology for Imaging and Therapy

• Telemedicine, e-Health and Multimedia EPR

• Expert Systems and Computer Assisted Education

• Economic and Management Issues

• Security, Legal and Ethical Aspects

Submissions Welcome

Abstracts or papers including new methods, devices and applications, clinical studies, position papers, and poster topics for presentation at the congress are welcomed. Submissions will be peer-reviewed by members of the international programme committee. Abstracts of accepted lecture and poster presentations will be published in the proceedings, a supplement of the International Journal of CARS, which will be distributed to all congress participants. Paper contributions will be included in regular issues of the international journal of CARS. Authors should send their submissions through the CARS website, see further information and guidelines at http://www.cars-int.org/Authors/cars_2008call_for_papers.htm.

ECRI Institute Provides Guidance to Broadlane CT Buy

ECRI Institute will serve as an unbiased expert, offering equipment purchasing clients the inside track on the latest medical equipment at Broadlane’s upcoming Computed Tomography (CT) Live Group Buy.

“Roughly 41 percent of hospitals will be purchasing a CT this year,” said Kerry Tucker, Vice- President, supply chain services, Broadlane.

“By combining ECRI Institute’s state-of-the-art technology and marketplace insight with Broadlane’s rigorous Live Group Buy process, attendees should achieve double-digit savings and confidence they are making wise product choices based on the best information available.”

ECRI Institute will provide event participants insight into:

• The state of the marketplace: What technologies are available now and where are they heading?

• Key clinical issues: What issues are most important when considering a purchase?

• Recent technological advances: How do these advances impact performance and value?

Dates Announced for CIRSE 2008, Copenhagen, Denmark

The CIRSE congresses have become Europe’s most comprehensive interventional meetings focusing on raising the profile of cardiovascular and interventional radiology, and attracting public awareness and political attention.

Next year’s edition is scheduled to take place from September 13 - 17, 2008, in Copenhagen, Denmark. CIRSE 2008 is a unique forum where medical professionals can meet their colleagues from all around the world, and exchange ideas and information in the field of minimally invasive, image guided therapies. The best recent scientific developments and novel research will be presented.

Vascular Interventions

Vascular interventions represent a major component of the work of many interventional radiologists. This year CIRSE will again devote an important part of its programme to vascular intervention, including a “Foundation Course, the essentials on technical and clinical management of peripheral vascular disease”. The course will be followed by a self assessment test all attendees are invited to take.

The special sessions at CIRSE 2008 will range from aortic and visceral aneurysms to TIPS, stroke management, carotid artery stenting, diabetic foot, dialysis shunts and much more. Controversy sessions in which experts will debate topics such as below-the-knee stenting, IVC filters and thrombolysis for DVT will help attendees to form their own opinion on these constantly evolving fields.

Two interactive case discussions will focus on abdominal stent grafts and aortic dissection. They will allow interacting with world-renowned experts on technically and clinically challenging cases.

Imaging plays a pivotal role in our daily practice, in terms of guiding, patient eligibility, intervention and follow-up. Attendees will get updated in new imaging modalities, including cardiac imaging, 3D road mapping, flat panel CT, fusion imaging and whole body 3T MRA in various special sessions.

One special session will focus on key imaging features which should lead to the proposal of the corresponding intervention for the patient. Another new feature will be a “Peripheral MRA and CTA: tips for better imaging” workshop.

Next Connectathon Announcement

The next European IHE Connectathon is to take place in Oxford, UK from Monday 7 April to Friday 11 April 2008 and will be held at Saint Catherine’s College.

IHE is an initiative by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information. IHE promotes the coordinated use of established standards such as DICOM and HL7 to address specific clinical needs in support of optimal patient care.

IHE provides a detailed implementation and testing process to promote the adoption of standards-based interoperability by vendors and users of healthcare information systems. The process culminates in the Connectathon, a weeklong interoperability-testing event. The Connectathon provides the most detailed validation of the participants’ integration work. Participating companies prepare for the event using testing software—the MESA test tools—developed for this purpose.

During the Connectathon, systems exchange information with complementary systems from multiple vendors, performing all of the transactions required for the roles they have selected, called IHE Actors, in support of defined clinical use cases, called IHE Integration Profiles. Thousands of vendor-to-vendor connections have been tested overall, and tens of thousands of transactions passed among the systems tested.

EuroPACS Annual Congress: Topics Announced.

EuroPACS is Europe’s most intensive PACS congress, covering all the important subjects that are useful not just for healthcare IT personnel, but for all those concerned with efficient workflow management and the latest IT developments involving radiology. Sessions will be chaired by expert topic leaders including Dr Jarmo Reponen, Prof. Davide Caramella and Prof. Berthold Wein.

This year’s annual edition to take place in Barcelona, Spain from June 25 – 28, 2008, will include between 400 – 600 delegates from different countries. The conference programme will offer information on the latest and most significant developments in clinical practice, research and education within digital radiology, including:

• PACS Planning and Purchasing Strategies

• PACS Evaluation and Economical Aspects

• PACS Beyond Radiology

• Image Distribution, Storage and Archiving Strategies

• Workflow and Data Flow in Radiology

• Regional PACS and Teleradiology

• Cross-Border Experiences

• Security and Privacy, Quality Assurance, Legal Aspects