3 things to remember from ECR 2017

The first week of March is a week that is highlighted in the agenda of everyone involved in radiology. For 5 days, Vienna is the scenery for the European Congress of Radiology (ECR), which is the annual meeting of the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and other professionals in the radiology field.

With more than 25.000 participants from over 120 countries, ECR is a must for radiologists, radiographers, medical physicists or industry involved in radiology. Not just for networking, but certainly to be aware of the latest trends and innovations in the field.

As every year, a delegation from Qaelum was present in Vienna. We demonstrated our radiation dose monitoring software DOSE at the booths of Agfa HealthCare and Fujifilm, exchanged thoughts with other specialists and listened to interesting sessions about new insights and innovations. Also, Jan Schillebeeckx, CMO of Qaelum, presented a lecture about cloud-based PACS in the congress.

Evguenia Boldyreva (Head of training), Jurgen Jacobs (CEO), Niki Fitousi (Head of Research) and Laura Le Maire (Sales Manager) discussing DOSE at the Agfa HealthCare booth.

Laura Le Maire (Qaelum) and Erik van Rijn (Agfa HealthCare) demonstrate Dose by Qaelum for UK radiologists at the Agfa HealthCare booth (left). Laura Le Maire and Evguenia Boldyreva (right) at the Fujifilm booth.

Let’s summarize for you 3 key points that we remember from ECR 2017.

1. Clinical Diagnostic Reference Levels -
Can we optimize patient radiation protection as we know it by implementing the clinical indication in DRLs?

Medical imaging departments benchmark their dose levels with national or international Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs) to ensure compliance and radiation protection. However, these DRLs are based on body parts. Recent studies suggest that it is more relevant to define the actual indication when determining DRLs- turn them into ‘clinical’ DRLs. There are even some countries (eg UK, Switzerland) that have already applied different DRLs for some clinical tasks.
Results from a Eurosafe pilot survey concerning CT examinations were presented in the congress. The study was based on 4 clinical indications; stroke, head trauma, pulmonary embolism and lung metastasis. The results highlighted that the methodology to define clinical DRLs is critical, as issues may occur due to sample size, patient body size, equipment and protocol (e.g. no of phases) used. The list of clinical tasks should be kept short but representative.
We find this a very interesting point of view and expect to hear more about this in the future!

2. Communication with patients -
Give your radiology department a face.

Everybody is convinced about the importance of patient safety. But an additional aspect that was discussed at ECR is the communication with patients, which many of us seem to keep forgetting. There is a need for radiologists to show themselves to patients, communicate with them and let them know they are dealing with people behind all the equipment. We’ve heard some interesting points of view about this from physicians that have been in the position of the patient and are convinced this might help in the general awareness of radiation risks.

3. Dose Management Tools -
It’s not too late (yet…)

There were several presentations about how dose management tools help to improve the practice in the radiology department. With the deadline for compliance for the European Council Basic Safety Standards Directive (Council Directive 2013/59/EURATOM) approaching fast, many medical imaging departments are testing, using or validating Dose Management Tools to improve their workflow, efficiency and radiation dose. In addition, for Qaelum, the general attention for this topic at ECR confirms the necessity of dose management tools like DOSE. We will provide you soon with more information about what to consider when implementing dose management systems!

Dr. Jan Schillebeeckx (CMO of Qaelum) presenting at the ECR congress.

Finally, 2017 was a special edition for Qaelum being a Belgian company. It is the first year that the presidencies of ESR and ECR are held by the same person: Belgian radiologist Prof. Dr. Paul Parizel of Antwerp. This was celebrated with a special Belgian get-together at the Agfa HealthCare booth, organized by four Belgium-based companies at the forefront of modern radiology technology: Agfa HealthCare, Barco, Materialise and Qaelum.

We enjoyed the great Belgian beers that were offered and got the opportunity to meet with the many visitors at the booth.