Low registration sinks IV-MRI meeting

A symposium on interventional MRI scheduled to take place lastmonth was canceled due to the small number of registrants, accordingto one of the organizers of the event. The cancellation couldbe a sign that one of MRI's most promising new clinical applicationsis not yet ready for prime time.

The National Symposium on Interventional MRI was scheduledfor July 27-30 in Marina del Rey, CA. It was to be the secondannual symposium; the first was held last year following the Societyof Magnetic Resonance meeting in San Francisco.

But interventional MRI apparently is not yet mature enoughto warrant a stand-alone conference. Organizers decided to pullthe plug after fewer than 20 registrations came in, well shortof the 100 to 200 that were hoped for, according to Dr. LawrenceMuroff of Educational Symposia in Tampa, FL. Educational Symposiaco-sponsored the event, along with the Center for InterventionalMRI at UCLA Medical Center.

"I think that interventional MRI is a concept slightlyahead of its time," Muroff said. "A lot of people havebeen generating excitement in the area, but few have machinescapable of doing those procedures."

Muroff declined to estimate when the symposium would be rescheduled,but said his group was interested in sponsoring the meeting againonce it feels clinical interest is there.