Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in clinical practice hasn’t fully completed its cycle of development. Though we have been working on it for over 20 years, it’s entering into a new phase. The most exciting is the paediatric application of CEUS, with recent regulatory approval for certain use.
The European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (EFSUMB) took the lead in paediatrics CEUS by issuing statements on the use in children in April last year (Sidhu et al. 2017) to coincide with the regulatory approval of contrast enhanced in ultrasound in children in the USA. Even though it’s not licensed in Europe, we are the leaders in CEUS in children, but the USA established a license first in liver applications.
There are many areas that still need to be explored in contrast-enhanced ultrasound in children, not least in the liver, - but in many other areas. To this effect, EFSUMB can take the lead with an online registry that allows researchers to record their findings to allow the data to be published on large numbers.
What is your top management tip?
Learn to delegate appropriately, otherwise you just fall over.
What are the major challenges in your field?
The major challenges we face are trying to get people who are working outside ultrasound, not physicians who order imaging, but also radiologists who use other imaging techniques, to fully appreciate ultrasound’s vast diagnostic ability. Often physicians perceive ultrasound as the cheaper option and therefore not so good - a barrier that requires education to overcome.
What would you single out as a career highlight?
There are many occasions that I have been humbled by an event, but acknowledgment by being awarded honorary membership of ultrasound societies across the world, motivates me further. This demonstrates to me that what I am doing is being recognised, and I am very grateful to for this
If you hadn’t chosen this career path, what would you have become?
A historian – indeed this is a subject that I seemed to enjoy at school.
What are your personal interests outside of work?
I have family in Italy, so we spend a lot of the summers walking in the Dolomites! It’s really beautiful.
What is your favourite quote?
Everybody has a talent. It is the job of the teacher to find this talent and let it develop.
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