More than 30,000 radiologists from around the world (a new attendance record) gathered in Vienna from February 27 through March 3 for the 2019 European Congress of Radiology (ECR).
“European radiologists are particularly interested in accelerating the development of noninvasive treatment options,” said Alessandro Napoli, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiology at La Sapienza University of Rome. “As the applications for focused ultrasound continue to expand, the interventionalists are becoming more and more familiar with its utility and broad reach.”
The event included three abstracts on focused ultrasound treatment. One novel application was for the palliative treatment of recurrent isolated gynecological tumors in the pelvis (see A-0287 Salvage treatment with image directed therapy: high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and stereotactic radiotherapy by N.M. deSouza from Sutton, United Kingdom).
In a session dedicated to developing minimally invasive local treatments for breast cancer, F. Pediconi from the University of Rome presented an overview of HIFU for this application (see A-0672 HIFU therapy).
Finally, Dr. Alessandro Napoli described the advantages of HIFU over other options for the palliative treatment of painful bone metastases in the session on musculoskeletal interventions (see A-0272 Avoiding side effects and complications by using MR guided high- intensity focused ultrasound).
The conference’s “Special Focus Sessions” also included presentations from focused ultrasound researchers in the areas of oncology, liver interventions, tremor disorders, and musculoskeletal interventions. These seven presentations are listed below:
Nonvascular Interventions in Oncology
- B-1303 “Focused ultrasound subthalamotomy in patients with asymmetric Parkinson’s disease: A pilot study” by E. De Luis Pastor, M. Del Alamo, R. Martinez Fernandez, J. Mañez Miro, C. Gasca, R. Rodriguez Rojas, J. Pineda Pardo, L. Vela, J. Obeso; from Mostoles, Spain
- B-1304 “The effect of histogram parameters derived from quantitative T1-perfusion on predicting the high-intensity focused ultrasound outcome of uterine fibroids” by N.M. Duc, C. Li, H. Quang Huy, J. Yang, B. Keserci from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Xi’an, China, and Kelantan, Malaysia
- B-1305 “The role of magnetic resonance imaging parameters in predicting the treatment outcome of HIFU ablation of adenomyosis” by N.M. Duc, B. Keserci, H. Quang Huy, L. Van Phuoc, L. Trong Khoan, D. Duc Cuong, B. Van Giang, V. Dang Luu, and N. Duy Hue from Ho Chi Minh, Vietanam, Kelantan, Malaysia, Hue, Vietnam, and Ha Noi, Vietnam
Nonvascular Liver Interventions
- B-1441 “Radiofrequency ablation of liver cancers adjacent to the gallbladder without additional invasive measures under contrast-enhanced ultrasound monitoring: A preliminary study” by E. Xu, Y. Long, R. Yan, K. Li, L. Luo, Q. Zeng, L. Tan, M. Zhang, and R. Zheng from Guangzhou, China
- B-1444 “TRANS-FUSIMO: Preliminary in-vivo animal results of MR-guided focused ultrasound of liver under respiratory motion” by C. Gagliardo, P. Toia, M. Schwenke, J. Strehlow, L. Cicero, G. Cassata, A. Melzer, T. Preusser, M. Midiri from Palermo, Italy, Bremen, Germany, and Dundee, United Kingdom
Parkinson and Related Disorders
- B-1557 “Structural integrity impact of focused ultrasound thalamotomy and correlation to behavioural outcomes for tremor disorders” by G. Zur, O. Lesman-Segev, I. Schlesinger, A. Eran, and I. Kahn from Haifa, Israel
Nonvascular Musculoskeletal Interventions
- B-1571 “Intraarticular osteoblastomas: From challenging diagnostic entity to minimally invasive treatment with magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS)” by P. Palumbo, F. Arrigoni, C. De Cataldo, M. Ruschioni, L. Zugaro, A. Barile, and C. Masciocchi from L‘Aquila, Italy
The meeting’s abstract book and final program are available online.