Rheumatoid arthritis, which affects approximately 2.9 million people in Europe, can be difficult to differentiate from other forms of arthritis. Without an early diagnosis, however, it is impossible to assess the true effect of promising early intervention strategies. Could an alternative diagnostic imaging strategy be the answer?

Crystal-ball gazing reached new levels at ECR on Saturday, when Prof. Dieter Enzmann took delegates on “a trip to radiology Tomorrowland,” as he referred to his W.C. Röntgen honorary lecture.

It wasn’t too long ago that ultrasound was a roiling sea of innovation and new product releases, spurred by a rivalry among Diasonics, ATL, Hewlett-Packard (Agilent Technologies), and Acuson. Since these companies’ acquisition by GE, Philips, and Siemens, the waters have calmed. Supersonic Imagine plans to begin making some waves -- and soon.

If radiologists could design the perfect modality for guiding interventional procedures, the resulting technology would undoubtedly produce high-quality images without exposing patients to any ionizing radiation. So given the widespread availability of MRI, why are so many interventions still performed in the angiography suite?

As part of the European School of Radiology (ESOR) Visiting Scholarships Programme, I had the opportunity to obtain further training in musculoskeletal radiology in Dublin from September until December 2008.

Philips and Toshiba hope to open up a new end of the market for hand-carried ultrasound – the high end.

MR systems used in cardiovascular imaging will inevitably have higher field strengths, including 7T, according to a leading cardiac radiologist.

CT and MRI have a vital part to play in cases of head and neck trauma, but it is important to know which modality to use under the clinical circumstances, according to speakers at Friday’s opening session of the minicourse on major trauma.

A protocol involving contrast-enhanced ultrasound could better target tumors and reduce the number of unnecessary prostate biopsies, according to a pair of studies presented Sunday. One of the studies involved more than 2000 patients.

Philips Healthcare says it has come up with a way to make imaging departments more productive, at least ones that use its MR and CT scanners.

Computer aided detection remains the core focus of iCAD, but the company, once known only for its mammography products, has a much broader portfolio these days.

Focusing on company technologies aimed at early stage diagnosis, GE Healthcare is advocating disease prevention and presymptomatic detection at the ECR this week. In the context of this “Early Health” model of care, GE addressed an issue Europeans were the first to be concerned about: patient radiation dose.

Siemens cast its work-in-progress 16-slice PET/CT at the nexus of vision and value.

New developments in ultrasound and MRI mean that peripheral nerve imaging is easier than ever to perform and may bring higher sensitivity to lesion detection.

Elastography is one of the emerging technologies on display at ECR 2009, reflecting the growing importance of imaging techniques that compare the inherent stiffness of healthy and abnormal tissues in advancing the diagnostic value of ultrasound. Elastography’s clinical applications were discussed at two separate satellite symposia on Saturday and Sunday.

In the gleaming technical exhibition at ECR 2009, vendors of MRI systems are showing just how their latest innovations will help turn the imaging examination into a faster, less claustrophobic, and altogether more pleasant experience for the patient.

Vienna has always been a magical place for me. When my wife and I first had an opportunity to visit Europe in 1983, we made sure it was on our itinerary. The fact that our daughter and son were only nine and six years old, respectively, meant that we had to make each city we visited a special place for them. Vienna meant two things for them: dancing white horses and waltz music. Of course, it soon meant other things, such as Sacher-Torte and wiener schnitzel. Even nine- and six-year-olds appreciate good food, and Vienna certainly had a feast of that!

Multislice CT continues to spawn new applications in lung imaging, such as software techniques that allow depiction of airway morphology abnormalities in the prevalent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. But radiologists are still not doing enough to cut the radiation dose while using the latest imaging tools, resulting in unnecessary and potentially hazardous excess exposure, according to some experts.

Are there any limits to what can be achieved with new PACS technologies? Yes, of course. But sometimes it seems that the only restrictions are those imposed by the scope of the human imagination.

Yes, size does matter, but it is certainly not the only way to monitor the efficacy of cancer treatment. The way in which lesions are measured is extremely important as well, ECR delegates were told at a special focus session on the assessment of tumor response.