2 - 6 March 2016, Vienna, Austria.The latest results and trends in medical imaging will be unveiled during the 28th European Congress of Radiology (ECR) at the Austria Center Vienna in March. Over 20,000 delegates from 101 countries are expected for the conference.
To call the congress a strictly European radiological meeting doesn't go far enough. Not only participants from all over the globe, but also professionals from various related medical disciplines, have become an integral part of each ECR and add to the diversity of the congress. The strong relationship between the ESR and the European Federation of Radiographer Societies (EFRS), for example, has had a strong impact on the scientific programme, helping to make the ECR the primary event for radiographers in Europe.
To keep up with the latest developments and trends in radiology, ECR 2016 is offering an even more comprehensive programme, as well as a wide range of high quality training and refresher opportunities.
With congress president Professor Katrine Riklund from Umeå, Sweden, being both a radiologist and an expert in nuclear medicine, it is easy to guess that one of the key aspects of the ECR 2016 programme will be hybrid imaging. The importance of the discipline will be underlined by the official launch of Europe's latest subspeciality society, the European Society for Hybrid Medical Imaging (ESHI), at ECR 2016.
Following last year's successful increase, the ECR will again feature a large number of slots for scientific sessions to match the high demand of the international radiological community. The meeting will also offer a glimpse into the future of radiology through its New Horizons Sessions, which will focus on biomarkers in imaging, the predictive role of imaging in the evolution of atherosclerosis and on how to make best use of big data.
There will be three State of the Art Symposia, nine Professional Challenges Sessions, 15 Special Focus Sessions, more than 70 Refresher Courses and three multidisciplinary sessions, which feature radiologists, oncologists, gynaecologists and surgeons involved in the interdisciplinary treatment of patients.
The E3 programme will cover the entire range of educational issues from undergraduate medical education to subspecialised continuing professional development. It will feature the long-running Rising Stars and Beauty of Basic Knowledge Sessions, and the three formats introduced last year - the European Diploma Prep Sessions, ECR Academies and ECR Master Classes - that will deal with many aspects of radiology. These five branches reflect the different levels of education in radiology by addressing the different stages of an individual's professional career.
A major addition to this ECR programme is a new poster presentation format called The Voice of EPOS. "At ECR 2016, for the first time, posters will not only be available in digital form but will also be presented to the audience by the authors themselves. You can watch these presentations each day during the conference, and there will be sessions for organ-based topics as well as sessions grouped by language," said Prof. Riklund, who is professor at the Umeå University Hospital.
To make it more widely accessible, the ECR will broadcast nearly every lecture via live web streams on ECR Live, a service delegates have used increasingly since its introduction three years ago. Lectures will also be available to watch on demand afterwards. This option will make it possible for delegates who are not able to attend a session in person to catch up on its content afterwards.
Another popular feature of the ECR, the 'ESR meets' programme, which sees three national radiological societies invited to the congress, will feature Japan, Columbia and the Nordic countries as the programme's guest countries.
"I am delighted to welcome representatives of the Nordic countries as part of the ESR meets programme," said Prof. Riklund. "With Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden together with Japan and Columbia we have found very interesting partners which will make the 'ESR meets' sessions some of the highlights of the congress."
For further information, please visit:
https://www.myesr.org/cms/website.php?id=/en/ecr_2016.htm
About ECR
The ECR is the annual meeting of the European Society of Radiology (ESR), which represents more than 63,000 radiologists worldwide. The ECR is one of the largest medical congresses in the world, attracting more than 20,000 congress participants. With 300 companies exhibiting across more than 26,000m², its exhibition is also one of the largest medical exhibitions in Europe.