VIENNA - Officials of the European Congress of Radiology opened the 2001 edition of their annual conference Friday with a call for European radiologists to continue to build bridges, both within Europe and throughout the world.
In his opening address, ECR president Dr. Holger Pettersson highlighted the changes that have occurred in the 10 years since the ECR began holding regular meetings in Vienna. The congress itself is now being held annually rather than every other year in an effort to keep abreast of rapid scientific changes, while at the same time altering its schedule and format in an effort to reduce travel and exhibiting costs, Pettersson said.
Radiology plays a crucial role in the practice of medicine, according to Pettersson. Since the time of the Renaissance, medicine has recognized that a correct diagnosis is the basis for a correct therapeutic regimen. Today, morphological and functional imaging plays a key role in healthcare at leading institutions around the world, he said.
But what will be radiology’s role in the future? Pettersson believes that medical imaging must seek collaboration, both on the professional and political levels, and should avoid unnecessary confrontation.
On the political side, radiology should continue to reflect the trend toward unification, as exemplified by the rise of the European Union. "Fragmentation into small, nationalistic units, as opposed to greater European collaboration, must be looked upon as an anachronism," Pettersson said.
At the same time, national radiological societies can play an important role in the future of medical imaging, and should exist in parallel with continent-wide efforts. Pettersson himself is president of Sweden’s radiological society, and believes that the national societies can play an important role in the growth and development of radiology in their home countries.
In the professional realm, radiology’s fragmentation into subspecialties is a trend whose necessity -- and benefits -- can’t be denied. It is in the subspecialty environment that crucial research is being conducted, such as in interventional radiology, Pettersson said.
At the same time, some 80% of all diagnostic imaging consist of general radiology studies, Pettersson said. Therefore, collaboration between the subspecialists and general radiologists is necessary, both for the health of radiology and for that of patients.
Pettersson closed his address by emphasizing the progress the ECR has made in the past 10 years in building cultural, political, and professional bridges
"Today, the European Congress of Radiology offers an important forum for further education, communication of scientific achievements, and for demonstration of technical innovations," Pettersson said. "Together with the national radiologic societies, the subspecialty societies in Europe, and other societies around the world and in Europe, we can undertake the great task of representing radiology, conveying knowledge, and exchanging ideas, with the goal of collaboration."
The ECR’s effort to build bridges was highlighted by the conference’s inaugural lecture, given by Dr. Li Guozhen, head of radiology at Beijing Medical University. The 86-year-old radiologist described recent advances in medical imaging research underway in China.
In particular, she discussed recent work using functional MRI to track the results of acupuncture. With a Signa 1.5-tesla scanner (GE Medical Systems, Waukesha, WI), Li’s group demonstrated how applying acupuncture needles to puncture points on patients produced active foci in the brain.
By creating a composite image of all 27 volunteers in the study, the group found that the most active areas in the brain during acupuncture were in the temporal lobe. "Functional MRI appears to be a feasible technique for the study of the mechanisms of acupuncture," Li said.
By Brian Casey
AuntMinnie.com staff writer
March 3, 2001
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