Key Points
- RSNA 2024 was held December 1–5 in Chicago.
- With an attendance of 40,000, the conference featured more than 300 educational courses and scientific sessions, covering every subspecialty in radiology.
The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) held its 110th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting from December 1–5, 2024, at McCormick Place in Chicago. Themed “Building Intelligent Connections,” the conference attracted nearly 40,000 radiologists, imaging scientists, and industry professionals from around the world. The event provided a platform for discussing the latest innovations in medical imaging, with a particular emphasis on the integration of AI into radiology practice.
“Beyond the incredible networking opportunities and interesting scientific sessions, RSNA provided a great opportunity to connect with several Foundation partners,” said Jessica Foley, PhD, the Foundation’s chief scientific officer, who attended the conference. “For example, I engaged with the Academy of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research as a member of their board. Our advocacy efforts are multiplied when we work with like-minded groups like the Academy, and these partnerships will be instrumental in moving the field forward with a new Congress and administration in Washington, DC.”
This year, RSNA had 24 scientific presentations that would be of interest to the focused ultrasound community. Histotripsy was featured in several sessions, including a GE Healthcare in-booth educational session that was led by HistoSonics executives, highlighting HistoSonics’ partnership with GE, commercialization efforts, and further preclinical developments.
Focused ultrasound applications that were covered in the presentations included prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, uterine fibroids, brain tumors, sarcoma, essential tremor, and more. One interesting session included several presentations on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with ultrasound imaging, including for ultrasound guidance.
Focused Ultrasound Presentations
Genitourinary Imaging Education Exhibits | GUEE
- GUEE-36: Post-Ablation Imaging Changes on Prostate Cancer and PI-FAB Score System: Case-Based Review by Aline Pasquarelli, MD, et al.
Interventional Radiology Education Exhibits | IREE
- IREE-20: Post Histotripsy Imaging Findings: What to Expect as it Begins Clinical Adoption by Edwarda Golden, MD, et al.
- IREE-23: Pre-Clinical Investigation of Histotripsy for Targeting Pancreatic Tumors by Warren Campbell, MD, PhD, and Mina S. Makary, MD
- IREE-32: Synergy of CAR-T Therapy with Interventional Radiology: How IR Procedures Can Improve Immunotherapy Outcomes by Warren Campbell, MD, PhD, and Mina S. Makary, MD.
- IREE-44: Liver Histotripsy: Tips and Tricks for Clinical Treatment of Liver Tumors by Andrew Navarro, MD, et al.
- IREE-68: Precision Without Incision: Exploring Ablation Techniques in Uterine Fibroid Treatment by Marcello Giovanni Messias Da Silva, MD, et al.
Neuroradiology Education Exhibits | NREE
- NREE-27: Targeted Neurosurgical Interventions: The Role of Neuroimaging in LITT, DBS, and HIFU by Jay Starkey, MD, and Evgeny Pavlushkov, MD, FRCR
- NREE-84: A 360 Degree Review of the Power of Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound (LIFUS) in Management of Brain Tumors by Parisa Khoshpouri, MD, et al.
Interventional Radiology Sunday Afternoon Poster Discussions I | S3A-SPIR
- S3A-SPIR-5: Predicting the Therapeutic Temperature of Transcranial MRgFUS Based on Multilayer Perceptron Network by Yongqin Xiong et al.
Genitourinary Imaging Tuesday Morning Poster Discussions | T2-SPGU
- T2-SPGU-6: Evaluating the Diagnostic Accuracy and Inter-Reader Agreement of the Target Scoring System for Post-Focal Therapy Recurrent Prostate Cancer Detection on Multiparametric MRI by Omer Esengur, MD, et al.
AI in Ultrasound Imaging | T3-CPH01
- T3-CPH01B: Incorporating Ultrasound Imaging Physics into Artificial Intelligence: Example in the Detection and Imaging of Targeted Microbubbles by Jeremy J. Dahl, PhD
- T3-CPH01C: AI and Robotics for Ultrasound-Guided Interventions by Laura Brattain, PhD
- T3-CPH01D: AI in Medical Image Analysis; Ultrasound Imaging for Detection, Diagnosis, and Prognosis of Disease by Karen Drukker, PhD
Musculoskeletal Imaging (Image Guided Interventions and Infection) | T3-SSMK05
- T3-SSMK05-3: Ultrasound-Guided Histotripsy for Non-Invasive Treatment of Soft Tissue Sarcoma: Feasibility Study by Gunjan B. Malhotra, MD, and Steven Bishoy Soliman, DO
Science Session with Keynote: Neuroradiology (Movement Disorders) | T3-SSNR07
- T3-SSNR07-7: Keynote Speaker: What’s All the Fuss About FUS? Focused Ultrasound for Movement Disorders by Timothy J. Kaufmann, MD, MS
Neuroradiology Tuesday Afternoon Poster Discussions I | T5A-SPNR
- T5A-SPNR-8: Transient Symptoms Experienced During Sonication While Undergoing Magnetic Resonance-Guided Focussed Ultrasound (MRgFUS) Thalamotomy for Medically Refractory Tremor by Samantha Yost, BS, et al.
Interventional Radiology Tuesday Afternoon Poster Discussions II | T5B-SPIR
- T5B-SPIR-2: High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) in Advanced Pancreatic Cancer: German Experience by Holger Strunk, MD, and Milka Marinova, MD, PhD
- T5B-SPIR-5: High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) in Advanced Pancreatic Cancer – Comparative Study of Overall Survival in Patients Undergoing Palliative Therapy with Versus without Local HIFU Treatment by Milka Marinova, MD, PhD, et al.
- T5B-SPIR-6: NK Cell Infusion Enhances Tumor Control After Sub-Lethal Hyperthermia In Vitro and In Vivo: Implications of MHC-1 Shedding by Po-Chun Chen et al.
- T5B-SPIR-7: Injectable X-Ray Visible Targets for In Vivo CBCT-Guided Histotripsy Treatments by Katrina Lauren Falk, MS, et al.
Interventional Radiology Wednesday Morning Poster Discussions | W2-SPIR
- W2-SPIR-2: Customized Whole-Gland MR-Guided Transurethral Ultrasound Ablation (TULSA) For Treatment of Localized Prostate Cancer: A Single Centre Retrospective Analysis of 73 Patients by Joseph Jacob Busch, MD, et al.
- W2-SPIR-4: Irreversible Electroporation Combined with Immunotherapy Versus Irreversible Electroporation Alone for Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis by Miriana Emanuela Mariussi, MD, et al.
- W2-SPIR-7: Radiology-Pathology Evaluation of Histotripsy-Treated Swine Livers Demonstrates High Correlation Between Imaging and Gross Pathology by Edwarda Golden, MD, et al.
Genitourinary Imaging Wednesday Afternoon Poster Discussions II | W5B-SPGU
- W5B-SPGU-6: Real-World Efficacy of MRI-Guided Transurethral Ultrasound Ablation of The Prostate: Initial Report from the Customized Ablation Registry (CARE) by Daniel N. Costa, MD, et al.
Search the Session Catalog for your own key words or therapeutic areas.
Industry Participation
Profound Medical had a booth at RSNA, and the company announced a new partnership with Siemens Healthineers to integrate the TULSA-PRO system into the Siemens Free Max low profile MRI system. This new partnership should be helpful for furthering Profound’s commercialization and market access efforts, as it expands access into a wider range of treatment settings.
In a non-CME vendor workshop (IS6-VW506), GE HealthCare presented “Breakthrough Image-Guided Therapy Enabled by Advanced Imaging and Histotripsy.” In this session, Joseph Michael Herman, MD, MSc, the medical director of HistoSonics and an adjunct professor in the Institute of Cancer Research at the Feinstein Institutes, and Joshua Stopek, vice president of Research and Development at HistoSonics, shared a brief background on histotripsy, its mechanism of action, and the HistoSonics Edison System. The presentation covered current image guidance techniques for histotripsy, recent preclinical and clinical data, the role and value of diagnostic ultrasound and image fusion, novel techniques in development (e.g., C-arm-guided histotripsy), and the initial real-world experience in the first 500 patients treated in the US and internationally.
Next Meeting
The next RSNA Annual Meeting is scheduled for November 30 to December 4, 2025.