Meeting Report: Matsumoto Honored at SIR 2019

Published:

MatsumotoLast month, interventional radiologists gathered in Austin for the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) 2019 Annual MeetingAlan H. Matsumoto, MD, FSIR, Chief of Radiology at the University of Virginia Health System and Clinical Director of the UVA Focused Ultrasound Center, was chosen to present the 35th Annual Charles T. Dotter Lecture. This award is selected by the SIR president based on extraordinary contributions to the field, dedicated service to the society, and distinguished career achievements in interventional radiology.

Dr. Matsumoto presented his lecture, “Patients and patience: Why both are essential for interventional radiology in tomorrow’s health care framework,” before receiving SIR’s “Gold Medal” – its highest honor. The Gold Medal is bestowed for distinguished and extraordinary service to SIR or to the discipline of interventional radiology. It is awarded to a member who has helped ensure the future of interventional radiology by advancing the quality of medicine and patient care.

“The foundation of interventional radiology is the employment of imaging guidance and minimally invasive, innovative technologies to enhance the lives of patients,” said Dr. Matsumoto. “Focused ultrasound is a wonderful, cutting edge technology – with absolutely no cutting – that is driving novel therapeutic approaches to drug delivery, immunomodulation therapies, and thermal ablation with imaging guidance. It is expanding the realm of minimally invasive treatment options for patients, all without the use of any radiation. The window of opportunity for this technology is just beginning to be realized.”

Focused ultrasound topics were included in two of the meeting’s sessions and in three of the abstracts selected for presentation.

Sessions

  • Advanced Topics in Vascular Anomaly Intervention (New Approaches Using HIFU and Cryotherapy in Vascular Anomalies by Avnesh Thakor, MD, PhD, from Stanford Children’s Health)
  • SA-CME: Diagnosis and Focal Therapy in Localized Prostate Cancer (Ablative Modalities I – High Intensity Focused Ultrasound and Laser Ablation by Sangeet Ghai, MD from University Health Network-Mt. Sinai Hospital, University of Toronto)

Abstracts
In “Gemcitabine-loaded temperature-responsive magnetic liposome for the focused ultrasound-driven chemohyperthermia therapy of pancreatic cancer,” a Northwestern University research group described how they used temperature-sensitive magnetic liposomes to enable MRI monitoring of the treatment zone during focused ultrasound delivery of gemcitabine. Their goal is to further develop this model for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.(1)

Two abstracts from the Ziemiewicz group at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, described preclinical studies using robotically assisted sonic therapy (RAST) for ablation of subcutaneous fat and kidney tissue.(2,3)

1. Yu B, Gogineni V, Park W, Larson A, White S, Kim D. 04:21 PM Abstract No. 111 Gemcitabine-loaded temperature-responsive magnetic liposome for the focused ultrasound-driven chemohyperthermia therapy of pancreatic cancer. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2019 Mar 1;30(3):S52.
2. Knott E, Swietlik J, Longo K, Xu Z, Lee F, Ziemlewicz T. 03:18 PM Abstract No. 365 A feasibility and safety study of RAST (robotically assisted sonic therapy) for renal ablation. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2019 Mar 1;30(3):S161.
3. Swietlik J, Knott E, Longo K, Laeseke P, Zhang X, Xu Z, et al. 03:09 PM Abstract No. 279 Robotically assisted sonic therapy (RAST, also known as focused ultrasound) for noninvasive subcutaneous fat ablation in a porcine model. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2019 Mar 1;30(3):S125.