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2004 - ISSUE 1
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EFSUM
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ewsletter
Ultraschall 2004; 25
3
EUROSON 20045th—8th June 2004Zagreb, Croatia.See preliminary programm page 12.
European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
EFSUMB
Newsletter
February 2004
Contents
EFSUMB Officers and Committees .... 4
Report from the President................ 4
Report from the Honorary Secretary —“Clinical Ultrasonography- where to go from here“ ................... 5
Report from the Honorary Treasurer ......................................... 7
Report from the Education and Professional Standards Committee ...7
A Review of Complications of Interventional Ultrasound................ 8
16th Euroson Congress 2004, Zagreb, Croatia .............................. 13
17th Euroson Congress 2005, Geneve, Switzerland ...................... 17
EFSUMB Contrast Agents Meeting, 23—24 January 2004 ....................... 17
EUROSON SCHOOL:· London, UK, 22-24 April 2004 .......18· Thurnau, Germany 17—19 June 2004 18· Riga, Latvia, 17—18 September 2004 19· Craiova, Romania, 19—20 September 2004 .................. 19
Report on the BMUS Congress, Harrogate 10—12 December 2003 .. 20
Diary Dates .................................... 21
EFSUM
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Ultraschall 2004; 25
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EFSUMBEuropean Fedaration of Societies for Ultrasound
in Medicine and Biology
Executive Bureau
President: K Jäger (Switzerland)
President Elect: D H Evans (UK)
Past-President: M Claudon (France)
Hon Secretary: L Greiner (Germany)
Hon Treasurer: N Juul (Denmark)
ECMUS — EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR MEDICAL
ULTRASOUND SAFETY
Chairman: K Salvesen (Norway)
Secretary: T Whittingham (UK)
Members: P Arbeille (France)
M Delius (Germany)
L Klinghammer (Germany)
R Laurini (Sweden)
K Marsál (Sweden)
EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS COMMITTEE
Chairperson: L Valentin (Sweden)
Secretary: D Lindsell ( UK)
Members: B Cacciatore (Finland)
B J Hackelöer (Germany)
I Sporea (Romania)
Ex-officio: D H Evans (UK)
PUBLICATION COMMITTEE
Chairman: D W Pilling (UK)
Members: M Bachmann Nielsen (Denmark)
J-M de Bray (France)
W Mann (Germany)
Ex-officio: M Claudon (France)
L Greiner (Germany
EFSUMB NEWSLETTER
Editor: D W Pilling (UK)
SECRETARIAT
General Secretary: Gianna Stanford,
Carpenters Court, 4a Lewes Road,
Bromley, Kent BR1 2RN, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 8402 8973
Fax: +44 (0)20 8402 9344
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.efsumb.org
Report from the President
Journal
We have made a big step forward! EFSUMB, the
European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound
in Medicine and Biology is back on the stage of
scientific publications. We have reestablished
our scientific platform and from now on we shall
again have our own publication. Negotiations
with Thieme Publishers have successfully been
concluded and an agreement has been signed
between Thieme Publishers and EFSUMB. The
journal Ultraschall in der Medizin is now the of-
ficial scientific journal of EFSUMB. In addition, the well estab-
lished EFSUMB-Newsletter will be published in the Journal as
well. We are grateful that David Pilling will continue his estee-
med work as editor of the Newsletter and we especially appre-
ciate the readiness of Hylton Meire to join the Editorial Board of
Ultraschall in der Medizin as an EFSUMB representative.
The signed agreement entitles all EFSUMB members to subscribe
to Ultraschall in der Medizin at an extremely low rate. The annual
rate for six issues is € 29,- if the subscriptions are collected and
handled by the national societies (bulk order); this is about 1/10
of the regular price. Individual EFSUMB members may subscribe
directly via the EFSUMB secretary office at a rate of € 35,-. With
this subscription you share in one of the top ranked scientific
ultrasound journals (Impact Factor 1.14).
Ultraschall in der Medizin is already the official journal of the
three German speaking societies (Austria, Germany, Switzer-
land). Thus, 51 % of our members are already subscribers. Natu-
rally the articles were predominantly published in German, but in
recent years the number of English papers has been rapidly in-
creasing. In the near future the flow of submitted papers will de-
termine the language of our journal. You are all invited to respond
to our appeal and to submit your scientific work to our own jour-
nal.
Young Investigator Award
The future of any society lies in the quality of its young investi-
gators. Therefore, EFSUMB gives high priority to the encourage-
ment and career advancement of our young investigators. An
award is considered for original work in the field of clinical and/or
basic research. National societies are invited to nominate a can-
EFSUM
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Ultraschall 2004; 25 5
didate. The submitted abstract will be presented at the next
EUROSON Congress during the special young investigators ses-
sion. The presented papers will be assessed by the evaluation
committee in terms of scientific content and quality of presen-
tation. The incentive to participate in this contest cannot only be
the financial (€ 1000,-) but the scientific benefit of a European
award as best young scientist of the year. For further informa-
tion please visit our website at www.efsumb.org/gover-
nance.htm.
Working Groups and Committees
The development of ultrasound contrast agents has remarkably
improved the diagnostic information of ultrasound examina-
tions. Under the auspices of EFSUMB a group of experts is going
to meet in Rotterdam in January in order to elaborate recom-
mendations on the application of ultrasound contrast agents for
the detection and characterization of focal liver lesions and their
use in the monitoring of treatment effects following local abla-
tive treatment. These guidelines for the use of contrast agents in
liver ultrasound are planned to be made accessible to all our
members as early as possible.
The Education and Professional Standards Committee is in the
process of preparing various syllabi for minimal training stand-
ards in different areas of ultrasound practice. Further informa-
tion may be available by the time of the next EUROSON congress
in Zagreb.
Our “watch dogs”, the European Committee for Medical Ultra-
sound Safety (ECMUS), is watching our activities and cares for
safety and reliability of our performance. ECMUS is chaired by
Kjell Salvesen from Norway, who has been serving the Commit-
tee for more than ten years and who will stand down after the
next EUROSON Congress in Zagreb. On behalf of the Executive
Bureau and the whole Federation I would like to express our gra-
titude to Kjell for the fruitful and tremendous work he has done
for us. The national societies are invited to nominate candidates
for the Committee. We are looking for candidates whose areas
of interest special knowledge and expertise cover as wide a
range as possible in the fields related to the bio-effects of ultra-
sound, whilst the maintenance of parity (national representati-
on) shall be of secondary importance.
Meetings and Congresses
EFSUMB was involved in the Congress of Vascular Medicine
which was held in Toulouse in October 2003. We organized five
symposia on quality control in vascular duplex scanning; the
feedback we have received so far was extremely positive. In the
meantime we are looking forward to the next EUROSON Con-
gress, to be held in Zagreb 5–8 June, 2004. Professor Ivan Drin-
kovic and his team as well as the national organizing committee
of the Croatian society are developing a promising programme.
We hope to see you all in Zagreb next June.
Kurt Jäger
President EFSUMB
Report from the Honorary Secretary
Clinical Ultrasonography — where to
go from here
Once there was a dream:
In a patient with abdominal, cardiothora-
cic, or vascular problems, you simply take
a small instrument connected to a video
screen, and with this device, you can easi-
ly look at the region of interest – be it one
of the numerous abdominal organs, the heart, the pleural cavi-
ties, or any vascular structure containing a fluid (blood, bile,
urine, or pancreatic juice). This procedure should be available
both in an emergency or an elective situation, at a low price ,
harmless, repeatable, not too difficult to learn and easy to apply.
This dream has become true, in realtime ultrasonography – with
its unique features and add ons – as we all know.
The unique features of this beautiful tool are
– the immediate access
– the simplicity and repeatability of use
– the local resolution not achieved by any other imaging
technique
– the realtime nature rendering not only images but also
much dynamic information, especially in doppler and co-
lour-doppler techniques.
– the additional possibility of immediate diagnostic or thera-
peutic ultrasound guided interventions.
Moreover, the capital costs as well as the running expenses of
ultrasonography are unbeatably low. So reality has maybe even
outstripped the dream.
But do we all really recognize, activate and realize the true po-
tential of ultrasonography ? Isn’t there an under-use of cost ef-
EFSUM
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Ultraschall 2004; 25
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fective abdominal, thoracic, or cardiovascular ultrasonography,
with a simultaneous over-use of CT and/or MRI scanning?
Answering these questions can lead to conflicting replies and
solutions, depending on a number of variables given. For ex-
ample the local and national conditions as well as the different
financial backgrounds for sectional imaging procedures will af-
fect the decision. Moreover, the training status of the perfor-
ming physician and the accessibility of ultrasound machines for
those colleagues who would like to perform it plays an impor-
tant role, which again is connected to the economic conditions
pertaining.
It might be expected, however, that any active clinician working
with for example abdominal conditions, will and must demand
access to ultrasound on his own for immediate integration of
the ultrasound findings with the other clinical data in an indi-
vidual patient – without a waiting list, saving not only expen-
sive procedures such as CT or MR scanning, but saving time. This
is considered a much more precious factor in general, not only
in terms of economical considerations, but for our patients as
well.
So the future of our beautiful tool – clinical ultrasonography -
will be a bright one considering the quality of and the demand
for all ultrasound procedures. It will be a bright future especially
when we want it and once we work for it. This includes a good
access to all training, learning and teaching modalities in scien-
tific and in clinical ultrasonography.
In this sense, our step forward in integrating our EFSUMB “Eu-
ropean Journal of Ultrasound” with the scientifically highrank-
ing journal “Ultrasound in Medicine/Ultraschall in der Medizin”
is real progress and a typical win-win situation for all partners
involved.
In addition, the national and the european congresses – espe-
cially our EUROSON congress at Zagreb in June 2004 hosted by
the national society of Croatia – are an extraordinarily good ba-
sis for exchanging, learning and teaching practical and scientific
progress and knowledge in ultrasound. It is worthwhile for any
doctor in Europe working within any of the sub specialties of
ultrasonography to cooperate actively in the national
interdisciplinary societies of ultrasound as well as in our
European Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine
and Biology (EFSUMB).
Lucas Greiner, EFSUMB Honorary Secretary
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Ultraschall 2004; 25 7
Report from the Honorary Treasurer
As I have stated in my previous reports -EF-
SUMB is an economically healthy organiza-
tion. The accounts from previous years
have shown considerable surpluses. The
budgets have been in balance and any acti-
vity that EFSUMB has been involved in du-
ring the recent years has led to a surplus to
our Federation. The status from the year
2003 is obviously not available yet, howe-
ver, I expect, that it will end up with a small
surplus. We have not yet received the final accounts from the
EUROSON Congresses in Warsaw in 2002 and Copenhagen in
2003. The amounts to EFSUMB arising from these two congres-
ses will probably first appear in 2004. Also money has been re-
ceived from the various organizers of the EUROSON Schools.
The accounts from the year 2002 together with the budget for
the year 2004 were shown in the newsletter September 2003.
Until recently our single highest expenditure, the newsletter
has been partly sponsored. However, as you can se the newslet-
ter is now incorporated in the journal: Ultraschall in der Medi-
zin. I hope for a fruitful cooperation also from an economical
point of view.
On this page you will find the membership numbers for each of
our member societies. The treasurer is grateful for the fees being
paid promptly.
Niels Juul
EFSUMB Honorary Treasurer
Report of the EFSUMB Educational and Professional Standards Committee Meeting for the EFSUMB Newsletter
All members of the Committee met in Lon-
don over the weekend of 6/7th December
2003. The main purpose of this meeting
was to refine various syllabi for minimum
training standards in different areas of
ultrasound practice, which had been
drawn up by members of the Committee.
The syllabi considered were Obstetrics &
Gynaecology, Gastroenterology, Radio-
logy, Urology and Angiology/Neurology.
The paper on Urology was accepted with the additional require-
ment for precise detail on what should be included in a logbook.
Detailed work was carried out to revise the syllabi on Gynaeco-
logy and Gastroenterology. These will now be rewritten and cir-
culated to members of the Committee for further consideration.
The syllabi on Obstetrics and Angiology/Neurology are less far
advanced and further work on these would be undertaken prior
to the next meeting of the Committee. It was decided that the
syllabus for Radiology was probably not required as the tea-
ching and training of ultrasound within radiology training sche-
mes in Europe was already well addressed. However contact
was being made with the European Association of Radiologists
to see whether it was felt that this was required or not.
It was agreed that each syllabus would have a similar require-
ment and that to achieve level 1 training trainees would require
a period of three to six months training, during which time they
would be required to undertake a minimum of 300 ultrasound
examinations themselves. During the course of this time they
should also receive a theoretical course of lectures or seminars
Country Number Of Members In Database on
31 December 2003
AUSTRIA 813
BELGIUM 211
BULGARIA 75
CROATIA 67
CZECH REP 45
DENMARK 409
FINLAND 264
FRANCE 361
GERMANY 5856
GREECE 100
HUNGARY 45
ISRAEL 101
ITALY 1884
NETHERLANDS 47
NORWAY 254
POLAND 1200
PORTUGAL 63
ROMANIA 247
RUSSIA 68
SLOVAK REP 40
SLOVENIA 108
SPAIN 177
SWEDEN 96
SWITZERLAND 2593
UK 2082
TOTAL 17162
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on the Physics of Ultrasound, Normal Anatomy and Common Pa-
thological Abnormalities. Following each period of training
each training department should undertake an assessment of
competence of the candidate before they can undertake ultra-
sound scanning independently at that level. In order to progress
from level 1 to level 2 it was proposed that there should be a
further minimum training period of a year, with a minimum
number of extra ultrasound examinations to be performed by
the candidate of 600.
As these syllabi are agreed by the Committee they will be circu-
lated to the specialist societies in Europe for their consideration
and hopefully for their support before being published. The
committee will review progress on all the syllabi at its next
meeting in Zagreb in June 2004.
At the meeting in London the Committee also considered the
possibility of having a syllabus in cardiac ultrasound, but agreed
that this was not appropriate as this was being well addressed
by the European Working Group on Echocardiography under
the auspices of the Society of Cardiology. A review of the ‘Com-
plications of Interventional Ultrasound in the Abdomen’ was
nearing completion for publication in the EFSUMB newsletter.
Also near completion are ‘Guidelines for Ultrasound-Guided
Breast Biopsy’ and it was agreed that guidelines for ultra-
sound-guided thoracic interventions would be the next area to
be developed. The Committee is very anxious that all guidelines
issued by EFSUMB should be evidence-based and that where
evidence did not exist, it should be made clear that the recom-
mendations are on the basis of expert opinion and practice.
One member of the Educational and Professional Standards
Committee will attend a meeting organized by EFSUMB on
ultrasound contrast agents to be held in Rotterdam in January
2004. This will follow on from the 9th European Symposium on
Ultrasound Contrast Imaging. The aim of this meeting is to pro-
vide practical guidelines for the use of ultrasound contrast
agents. This meeting will comprise a group of experts from both
industry and EFSUMB with the focus of the meeting being on
liver imaging, but also dealing with other areas of application for
ultrasound contrast agents.
David RM LindsellEducation and Professional Standards Committee Secretary
A Review of Complications of Interventional UltrasoundProcedures in the Abdomen
The Professional and Educational Standards Committee of
EFSUMB committee plans to publish a series of guidelines for
ultrasound guided interventional procedures. We have already
published evidence based guidelines on amniocenteses and
chorionic villus sampling. As part of our work on such guide-
lines the committee publishes below a review of complications
of interventional ultrasound guided procedures in the abdomen
written by Dr Elisabetta Buscarini. At the end of this document
you will find a few guidelines (needles and guidance, and pre-
cautions to be taken). We hope that our readers will find this
publication useful in their clinical work and the committee
thoroughly thanks Dr Buscarini for her
contribution.
Any comments on the review are wel-
comed and can be sent to EFSUMB’s Ge-
neral Secretary Mrs Gianna Stanford
(e-mail: [email protected]).
Lil Valentin
Educational and
Professional Standards Committee
Chairperson
Review of InterventionalUltrasound in the Abdomen
“safety first”
Interventional ultrasound (US) includes invasive procedures
carried out under US guidance for diagnosis and therapy. Diag-
nostic procedures are undertaken for cytology or tissue samp-
ling, generally performed with a fine needle (FN), which has a
calibre less than 1 mm. Therapeutic procedures performed un-
der US guidance are for drainage of fluid collections, or of obs-
tructed collecting systems (typically US guided nephrostomy),
or of hollow organs for nutritional purpose. Tumour ablation
either by injection of chemicals (mainly ethanol) or by deposi-
tion of thermal energy with radiofrequency electrode needles or
laser fibers is another therapeutic area.
The small calibre of biopsy needles and the safety offered by US
guidance has made interventional US a minimally invasive pro-
cedure; nevertheless fatal and major complications are report-
ed, generally caused by abdominal interventional procedures.
Therefore, physicians performing interventional US should have
a thorough knowledge of the relevant literature and of reported
complications to improve their technical choices, to reduce the
risk of complications, and to minimise the consequences of
complications when they occur. It is important to learn how to
prevent and how to correct complications.
Definition
One problem when discussing complications is to ensure that
everyone is speaking about the same thing. Complications range
from trivial incidents to major life-threatening crises, and
EFSUM
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Ultraschall 2004; 25 9
without any generally agreed definitions it is difficult to make
sense of overall figures.
A complication can be defined as an unfavourable event, un-expected even if predictable, occurring because of the inva-sive procedure, in spite of technical accuracy of the proce-dure.
Depending on their clinical and biological impact complications
are classified as:
– Minimal, when they cause transient inconvenience, they do
not imply a significant worsening of the patient’s condition,
they resolve spontaneously or with minimal care, even if
they may require a short period of intensive check-up of
some parameters (e. g., blood pressure)
– Major, when they induce a significant worsening of the
clinical condition of the patient and require substantial care
(e. g., blood transfusion, resuscitation, surgery) with delay-
ed hospital discharge or renewed hospitalization
– Fatal
According to the timing of appearance complications are divid-
ed into early and late.
Complications of Diagnostic US-guided Procedures
Mortality rate due to abdominal biopsies ranges from 0.001% to
0.038% as described in major studies, including questionnaire
surveys obtained by multicentre and single institution series
(1-8, Table I). Mortality and major complication rates are grea-
test for hepatic and pancreatic biopsies. However, cases of death
have been described after biopsy of every abdominal organ. Two
deaths out of 6,261 biopsied patients (0.03%) occurred after
hepatic biopsy. Both fatalities were due to massive
haemorrhage. They occurred in one patient with hepatocellular
carcinoma (HCC) out of 2,293 patients who underwent biopsy
for the diagnosis of HCC, and in one patient with liver haeman-
gioma out of 157 patients who underwent biopsy for the diag-
nosis of liver haemangioma (9). Another three cases of death
after puncture of liver haemangioma have been observed in a
series from a single institution (8). These data suggest a
significant risk of bleeding after biopsy of liver haemangioma.
Therefore diagnostic work-up of liver haemangioma should be
completed whenever possible by using imaging techniques. The
risk of bleeding is very important in case of biopsy of angio-
sarcoma. In spite of the rarity of this tumor, fatalities have been
reported after biopsy of angiosarcoma either in the liver (4, 10)
or in the adrenal gland (2). Fatal complications after pancreatic
biopsy are mainly due to severe pancreatitis, after puncture of a
normal gland in the wrong assumption of a pancreatic mass (11,
12).
The rate of major complications after ultrasound guided biopsy
is shown in table I. In a multicentre survey of haemorrhagic
complications after liver fine needle biopsy (FNB) the rate was
0.13%. It did not seem related either to the needle type (aspira-
tion or cutting needle) or to blood clotting function. The risk of
liver haemangioma puncture was confirmed, because in two ca-
ses out of 157 hemorrhagic complications occurred (9). Even if
spleen biopsy is a commonly feared procedure the related series
showed no fatalities, but major complication rate was as high as
1.3% (10).
An intriguing complication is tumor seeding, which implies the
dragging of a critical number of tumour cells along the needle
track, their deposition in a favorable microenvironment and
subsequent tumour growth. The time elapsing between the pro-
cedure and tumour seeding generally corresponds to a few
months, even if in some instances it is as long as two years or
more. The incidence generally varies between 0.003% and
0.036% but the exact incidence is difficult to determine, because
only in a proportion of the patients is follow up complete. Tu-
mour seeding correlates with needle calibre, number of biopsy
passes into the tumor, and location of the tumor. Seeding is
probably easier after a puncture of superficial tumours while it
seems to be independent of tumour histology (14). However a
high incidence of tumour seeding after pancreas tumour biopsy
is frequently reported, even if in one large series of pancreas bi-
opsies no case of seeding occurred (15). Another analysis of 33
reported series of pancreatic biopsies, including 2533 patients
altogether, revealed 1 (0.039%) case of seeding (16). According
to some authors biopsy should be avoided in patients who are
candidates for surgery to avoid the risk of tumour seeding. The
high diagnostic accuracy of imaging techniques strongly sup-
ports this point of view. The matter is still debated, even though
the trend is to reduce invasive procedures. Irregularities of the
needle surface to improve needle US visualization (the so-called
echo-marker) may potentially increase the seeding. An in-vitro
study has shown these irregularities to induce greater cell drag-
ging after biopsy. Therefore echo-marker should be avoided
(17). Tumour seeding seems to rarely have a clinical impact, and
it generally does not affect the patient outcome.
Table 1 — Deaths, major complications, and tumor seeding obser-
ved after diagnostic or diagnostic and therapeutic interven-
tional procedures (series 3, 6 and 7) guided by ultrasound.
NR = not reported
Authors Number of
procedures or
patients
Death % Major com-
plications %
Tumor see-
ding %
Livraghi et al (1) 11,700 0.008 0.05 0.017
Smith (2) 63,108 0.006 NR 0.005
Weiss et al (3) 66,379 0.007 0.05 0.003
Smith (4) 16,38 0.031 NR 0.006
Fornari et al (5) 10,766 0.018 0.18 0.009
Weiss et al (6) 95,070 0.001 0.09 0.006
Nolsoe et al (7) 8,000 0.038 0.18 0
Livraghi et al (8) 2,708 0.037 0.23 0.036
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Complications of Therapeutic US-guided Procedures
Drainage of abdominal collections is followed by a variable
number of major complications and deaths. In a large series (886
patients) of abdominal drainages no death related to the pro-
cedure was reported, but major complications were observed in
77 patients (8.6%) (18).
Complications of percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) in the
treatment of HCC have been studied in a multicentre series of
1066 patients (19). Mortality rate was 0.09% (one death due to
haemoperitoneum). Major complication rate was 3.2%. The
complications comprised haemorrhage (9 cases), pleural effu-
sion, hepatic or portal vein thrombosis, hepatic infarct, and liver
abscess. 40 cases of severe pain with interruption of the pro-
cedure were described but not included in the major complica-
tions. Tumour seeding along the needle track was observed in
7 patients (0.6%). In another paper (20) tumour dissemination
was found in 4 out of 348 patients (1.1%). An emerging percu-
taneous therapeutic option used either for small HCC or for liver
metastases is radio-frequency (RF) thermal ablation. There are
two different technologies: The expandable needle electrode
and the cooled tip needle electrode. Complications of the cooled
system have been described in a multicentre report (21), while
those of the expandable system are being reported in a series
from a single institution (22). It is certainly interesting to com-
pare adverse effects of PEI and RF thermal ablation (Table II).
However an “a priori” definition of complication is missing in
the paper on PEI (19), and the definition of major complications
in the RF cooled system series (21) differs from that used in the
RF expandable system series (22).
The reported data confirm that RF thermal ablation can be con-
sidered at least as safe as PEI for the treatment of liver tumors.
Needles and Guidance
a. Fine and large (> 1 mm) needles (aspiration and cutting), ca-
theters, needle-electrodes
b. Ultrasound guidance is sometimes difficult and may be re-
placed by computed tomography (CT).
Comments
a. Experimental and multicentre studies on fine needles show
no effect of needle calibre (23) nor between aspiration and
cutting needles on procedure related bleeding , whereas the
use of large needles has been shown to be associated with
an increased complication rate when compared to fine
needles (1-9).
b. In most of the series reporting percutaneous biopsies or
therapeutic procedures the guidance of choice has been US,
even if some difficulties in targeting the lesion (i. e.because
of meteorism or obesity) may indicate the need to use CT
guidance. Literature survey does not indicate any connec-
tion between complication rate and type of guidance (16).
Precautions to be taken
a. Careful patient history, check coagulation tests
b. Choose a safe needle track
c. Use fine needles whenever possible
d. Reduce the number of needle passes
e. Experienced operator
Table 2 — Complications after percutaneous ethanol injection (16),
the radiofrequencies cooled system port (21) and the radio-
frequencies expandable system (22).
Percutaneous
Ethanol
Injection (19)
RF cooled
system
(21)
RF
expandable
system (22)
Number of patients 1066 2320 166
Death 1 (0.09%) 6 (0.3%) 0
Major complications
Severe pain (session stop) 40 NR 3
Capsular necrosis 1
Abdominal wall necrosis — — 1
Cutaneous burn — 5 1
Peritoneal haemorrhage 5 6 1
Haemobilia 2 — —
Subcapsular haematoma 1 — —
Parietal haematoma 1 — —
Haemothorax -- 3 —
Pneumothorax 2 1 —
Hepatic abscesses 2 6 —
Intestinal perforation 1 5 —
Acute cholecystitis — 1 —
Acute cholangitis 1 — —
Portal vein thrombosis 3 1 —
Caval vein thrombosis 1 — —
Hepatic infarct 3 1 —
Rapid hepatic decompensation — 2 —
Large biloma — 1 —
Right pleural effusion 5 — —
Tumour seeding 7 12 1
Pulmonary embolism — 1 —
Diaphragmatic paresis — 1 —
Severe bradycardia — 1 —
Sepsis — 1 —
Common bile duct stenosis — 1 —
Major compl.
number (rate)
74 (6.9%) 50 (2.2%) 8 (4.8%)
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Comments
a. A detailed clinical history can sometimes reveal a haemos-
tatic defect even in the presence of normal routine coagu-
lation tests. Coagulation tests which should routinely be
evaluated before a percutaneous procedure on deeply locat-
ed organs include: Prothrombin time, partial prothrombin
time, platelet count. The following values are generally con-
sidered safe: prothrombin time > 40 per cent, partial pro-
thrombin time < 5 sec above the upper limit, platelet count
> 50,000/mm³ (9). Discontinuation of aspirin and anticoagu-
lants (possibly replace by heparin) is advisable before a bio-
psy, but it has to be weighed against the thrombotic risk
(24).
b. When deciding the needle track any interposed structure
between the abdominal wall and the target lesion or paren-
chyma has to be carefully evaluated so as to avoid passage
through main blood vessels, gallbladder, or colon (16). Sys-
tematic check of the needle track with Doppler US can easi-
ly identify interposed vessels or vascular lesions misinter-
preted as cysts or tumors (7).
c. See above, Needles, section a.
d. It has been shown that the diagnostic accuracy of cytology
significantly increases if two passes are made instead of
one, but that it does not increase if three or more passes are
made. It is therefore recommended to check immediately
the adequacy of every specimen by a rapid staining. This can
reduce risks of complication by saving an average of one
pass per biopsy (25).
e. Experience of the operator and number of performed pro-
cedures are certainly important factors affecting the com-
plication rate of percutaneous biopsies (26). Personal opini-
on and experience suggests that a number of 50 annual liver
biopsies is needed for biopsy to be safe.
Concluding Remarks
An ultrasound guided diagnostic procedure, even if it is con-
sidered a minimally invasive one, should only be performed if it
is judged to be of benefit to the patient. It should not be perfor-
med if it can be replaced by a less invasive procedure.
An US guided therapeutic procedure should only be performed
if it can be expected to give a result equal to or better than that
obtainable by a more invasive procedure (e .g., a surgical inter-
vention).
References
1 Livraghi T, Damascelli B, Lombardi G, Spagnoli I (1983) Risk in fine
needle abdominal biopsy. JCU 11: 77-81
2 Smith EH (1984) The hazard of fine needle aspiration biopsy. Ultra-
sound Med Biol 10: 629-634
3 Weiss H, Duntsch U, Weiss A (1988) Risiken der Feinnadelpunktion.
Ergebnisse einer Umfrage in der BRD (DEGUM-Umfrage). Ultraschall
Med 9: 121-127
4 Smith EH (1991) Complications of percutaneous abdominal fine
needle biopsy. Radiology 178: 253-258
5 Fornari G, Civardi G, Capanna L, Di Stasi M, Rossi S, Sbolli G, Buscarini
L & The Cooperative Italian Study Group (1989) Scand J Gastroente-
rol 24: 949-955
6 Weiss H (1994) Komplikationen der Feinnadel Punktion. DEGUM
Umfrage 2. Bildgebung Imaging 61 suppl 2: 25-28
7 Nolsoe C, Nielsen L, Torp-Pedersen S, Holm HH (1990) Major com-
plications and deaths due to interventional ultrasonography: a re-
view of 8,000 cases. JCU 18: 179-184
8 Livraghi T, Lazzaroni S, Civelli L, Marks M, Meloni F, Vettori C. (1997)
Risk conditions and mortality rate of abdominal fine needle biopsy. J
Intervent Radiol 10: 57-64
9 Di Stasi M, Buscarini L, Bolondi L (1995) Ultrasound guided fi-
ne-needle liver biopsy : a multicentre survey of preprocedure eva-
luation and complication rates. J Intervent Radiol 10: 43-48
10 Hertzanu Y, Peiser J, Zirkin H. (1990) Massive bleeding after fine
needle aspiration of liver angiosarcoma. Gastrointest radiol
15:43-46
11 Evans WK, Ho CS, Mc Loughlin MJ, Tao LC (1981). Fatal necrotizing
pancreatitis following fine needle aspiration biopsy of the pancreas.
Radiology 141:61-62
12 Brandt KR, Charboneau JW, Stephens DH, Welch TJ, Goellner JR
(1993) CT- and US-guided biopsy of the pancreas. Radiology
187:99-104
13 Di Stasi M, Buscarini L, Cavanna L, Rossi S, Buscarini E, Silva M (1996)
Complications of ultrasound guided fine-needle biopsy of the
spleen: report on 110 patients and review of the literature. J Inter-
vent Radiol 11: 43-46
14 Buscarini L. (1998) Complications of abdominal interventional ultra-
sound: the dissemination risk. JMU 19: 149-152
15 Di Stasi M, Lencioni R, Solmi L, Magnolfi F, Caturelli E, De Sio I, Salmi
A, Buscarini L (1998) Ultrasound guided fine needle biopsy of pan-
creatic masses; results of a multicenter study. Am J Gastroenterol
93 : 1329-1333
16 Buscarini E, Di Stasi M. Complications of abdominal interventional
ultrasound, pp 24. Poletto Ed., Milan, 1996
17 Buscarini E, Foroni R, Rossi S, Di Stasi M, Silva M, Marinone G, Degli
Antoni G, Buscarini L (1997) Fine needles with echo markers: incre-
asing cell dragging during biopsy. Acta Cytol 41: 1246-1249
18 Civardi G, Di Candio G, Giorgio A, Goletti O, Ceraioli T, Filice C, Care-
mani M, Buscarini L (1998) Ultrasound guided percutaneous draina-
ge of abdominal abscesses in the hands of the clinician: a multicent-
re Italian Study. Europ J Ultrasound 9: 91-99
19 Di Stasi M, Buscarini L, Livraghi T, Giorgio A, Salmi A, De Sio I, Brunel-
lo F, Solmi L, Caturelli E, Magnolfi F, Caremani M, Filice C (1997)
Percutaneous ethanol injection in the treatment of hepatocellular
carcinoma. A multicenter survey of evaluation practices and compli-
cation rates. Scand J Gastroenterol 32: 1168-1173
20 Ishii H, Okada S, Okusaka T, Yoshimori M, Nakasuka H, Shimada K,
Yamasaki S, Nakanishi Y, Sakamoto M (1998) Needle tract implanta-
tion of hepatocellular carcinoma after percutaneous ethanol injec-
tion Cancer 82: 1638-1642
21 Livraghi T. Solbiati L, Meloni F, Scott Gazelle G, Halpern EF, Goldberg
SN (2003) Treatment of focal liver tumors with percutaneous ra-
dio-frequency ablation: complications encountered in a multicenter
study. Radiology 226:441-451.
22 Buscarini E, Buscarini L. RF thermal ablation with expandable needle
of focal liver malignancies: complication report. (submitted for pu-
blication)
23 Scott Gazelle G, Haaga JR, Rowland DY (1992) Effect of needle gauge,
level of anticoagulation, and target organ on bleeding associated
with aspiration biopsy. Radiology 183:509-513
24 Moulton JS, Moore PT (1993) Coaxial percutaneous biopsy tech-
nique with automated biopsy devices: value in improving accuracy
and negative predictive value. Radiology 186:515-522
25 Civardi G, Fornari F, Cavanna L, Di Stasi M, Sbolli G, Buscarini L (1988)
Value of rapid staining and assessment of US-guided fine needle
aspiration biopsy. Acta Cytol 32:552-554
26 Froelich F, Lamy O, Fried M, Gonvers JJ (1993) Practice and compli-
cations of liver biopsy. Results of nationwide survey in Switzerland.
Dig Dis Sci 38:1480-1484
Elisabetta Buscarini
Gastroenterology Department
Ospedale Maggiore
Crema, Italy
XVII European Congress of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology
29. Dreiländertreffen
Palexpo Congress& Exhibition Centre
GenevaSwitzerland
Remember the Date25-28 September 2005
Euroson 2005 Ultraschall
25-28 September 2005
25-28 September 2005
EUROSON2005
ULTRASCHALL
4 sites EUROSON 2004, PDF document
4 sites EUROSON 2004, PDF document
4 sites EUROSON 2004, PDF document
EUROSON 2005, PDF document
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Ultraschall 2004; 25 17
17th Euroson Congress September 25—28, 2005 — Geneva, Switzerland
Welcome to Geneva !
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Remember the date of September 25-28, 2005 ! Indeed, it will be
our pleasure to invite you to Geneva to Euroson 2005, the 17th
European Congress of Ultrasound. It will be a joint meeting with
Ultraschall 2005, which is the meeting of the German, Austrian
and Swiss Ultrasound Societies.
Euroson is the yearly occasion to reinforce the multi-disciplinary
contacts between clinicians, leading teachers and researchers in
the field of ultrasonography. It allows establishment and main-
tenance of fruitful relationships between people from numerous
medical specialties, who all use ultrasonography in their daily
practice as a major diagnostic tool and more and more frequently
as a guidance for therapeutic procedures.
The continuing educational program will cover all aspects of
clinical ultrasound with invited lectures, workshops, symposia,
free communications, poster exhibitions and sessions. The orga-
nizing committee also wishes to highlight the Plenary Lectures
and the Opening Ceremony on Sunday 25th and the Young Inves-
tigators Award. Ultrasound contrast media will be one of the hot
topics. As a special focus, we would like to mention IT (Informa-
tion Technology), which is developing rapidly in today’s medici-
ne. In close collaboration with the Department of Medical Infor-
matics of the University Hospital of Geneva, which has been a pi-
oneer in the electronic patient record (EPR) and in PACS (Picture
Archiving and Communication System), we will present an
up-to-date overview of the commercial solutions to electronical-
ly integrate ultrasound images into the patient record, for easy
transfer and archiving. Colleagues interested in the forefront of
science will have the opportunity to get the latest results on ul-
trasonography in molecular medicine, which opens exciting new
horizons on the role of ultrasonography in medicine.
As a crossroad of Western Europe, Geneva is easily accessible by
air from all major European cities, and there are interesting
low-budget connections from several of them. Access is also easy
by rail or car. The congress venue is Palexpo Conference Centre,
which is ideally situated next to the Cointrin International Air-
port with its underground railway station and its 10 minutes’ bus
connection to downtown. There are nearby parking facilities.
Free tickets for public transportation to the venue and through-
out the city during the Meeting are included in the registration
fee. The choice of accommodation includes hotels of all catego-
ries.
Besides Euroson 2005, the city of Geneva with its lake and nearby
mountains is well worth a visit. Important ideas and movements
have originated here, including those of Jean Calvin, Jean-Jacques
Rousseau and Henry Dunant. Today, Geneva is host to many in-
ternational scientific, humanitarian, cultural and economic insti-
tutions as well as the United Nations. Many of these facilities are
open to the public.
We are confident that Euroson 2005 will fulfil your expectations,
offering an exciting teaching and scientific event as well as an en-
joyable social and cultural experience.
EFSUMB Contrast Agents Meeting January 23—24, 2004 — Rotterdam
EFSUMB in agreement with Industry is organizing a 1-1/2 day
closed meeting with the scope of providing practical guidelines
for the use of contrast agents, to be widely circulated to users in
Europe. A group of international experts will meet with Industry
representatives to focus on liver imaging and briefly touch on
other fields of applications.
Experts
Albrecht Thomas, Germany
Blomley Martin, UK
Bolondi Luigi, Italy
Claudon Michel, France
Correas Jean-Michel, France
Cosgrove David, UK
de Jong Nico, Netherlands
Greiner Lucas, Germany
Jäger Kurt, Switzerland
Leen Eddie, UK
Lencioni Riccardo, Italy
Lindsell David, UK
Martegani Alberto, Italy
Solbiati Luigi, Italy
Thorelius Lars, Sweden
Tranquart Francois, France
Weskott Hans-Peter, Germany
Whittingham Tony, UK
Companies Representatives
Paul Gordon, Amersham
Stefano Nervetti, Bracco
Marc Engelhardt, Bracco
Marty Rosenberg, Brystol Meyers
Daniela Bokor, Esaote
Marco Macciò, Esaote
Kirstin LaConte, GE Ultrasound
Holger Frey, Hitachi-Medical-Systems
Ursula Weinbrecht, Hitachi-
Medical-Systems
Mike Averkiou, Philips
Diane Kaharick, Philips
Patrick Philips, Siemens
Ellison Bibby, Siemens
Thomas Scheper, Schering
The publication of the adopted guidelines will be circulated to the
EFSUMB members in the following issue of the EFSUMB News-
letter and on the on the EFSUMB website.
If this meeting will be successful a second meeting will be orga-
nised in 2005 to adapt these guidelines and provide detailed re-
commendation for other clinical fields.
Michel Claudon
Past President EFSUMB
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EUROSON School
EUROSON School on 3D Ultrasound Imaging and the 3D Ultrasound Users Group Meeting
April 22nd—24th, 2004The Wolfson Conference Centre, Hammersmith Hospital Campus, London, United
Kingdom. Organized jointly with the British Medical Ultrasound Society. For further
details of program and registration forms please contact HITEC, Department of
Imaging, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 0HS. E-mail address:
Accreditation applied for from the Royal College of Radiologists
3D Ultrasound Imaging
Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, in association with the British Medical Ultra-
sound Society, is organizing a three day course on 3D Ultrasound Imaging incorpo-
rating a meeting of the 3D Ultrasound Users Group. The course will cover the basic
principles of 3D and 4D applications on the first day followed by a series of invited
presentations on the latest developments in the subject on the second day.
3D Ultrasound Users Group
The 3D Ultrasound Users Group has been established to provide an informal open
forum for presentation and discussion of the latest clinical developments of these
techniques and abstracts are now invited for presentation. For further information
on the Users Group contact:
Mr. K. Humphries, 3D Ultrasound Users Group, RSU, Dept of Imaging, Imperial Col-
lege (Hammersmith Campus), Du Cane Road, London W12 0HS. E-mail address:
Accommodation
Special rates have been negotiated at the Thistle Hotel and the University Park. For
further details contact the meeting Secretariat.
Administration Centre
For program and registration forms contact: HITEC, Dept. of Imaging, Hammers-
mith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 0HS, United Kingdom.
Exhibition/Practical ‘Hands-on‘ Sessions
An exhibition of the latest 3D and 4D ultrasound equipment will be held throughout
the three days. Between two and three hours will be available each day for delega-
tes to gain supervised training and practical experience in the use of 3D and 4D
ultrasound systems in scheduled sessions within the program.
Social events
A Reception and Dinner will be held on 23rd April, 2004
Sponsorship
The Course Organizers gratefully acknowledge the support given to this meeting
by Diagnostic Sonar LTD.
EUROSON School on 3D Ultrasound Imaging
Thursday, April 22nd.
Basic Theory and Practice
08.45 Welcome and Introduction
08.50 Fundamentals of 3D imaging
09.30 Position sensing devices
— Electromagnetic sensors,
— Mechanically driven arrays
— Correlation techniques
10.30 Coffee/Exhibition
10.45 3D Surface and volume rendering techniques
11.15 The Stradx 3D imaging system
11.40 Volume measurements
12.00 Practical Session I: System Demonstrations: basic 3D facilities
13.00 Lunch/Exhibition
Cardiovascular Applications
14.00 3D and 4D cardiovascular imaging techniques
14.30 Transoesophageal imaging
15.00 Intravascular 3D imaging
15.30 Tea/Exhibition
15.45 3D vascular ultrasound imaging
16.10 Carotid Imaging
16.30 Practical Session II: Cardiovascular
Friday, April 23rd
General and small parts
08.45 Applications of 3D ultrasound in Image-Guided Surgery
09.15 3D surgical applications
09.45 3D oro-maxillary imaging
10.05 Coffee. Practical session III: General
10.45 3D Breast Imaging.
11.10 Endoanal imaging
11.35 Prostate
12.00 Practical Session IV: General
13.00 Lunch/exhibition/workshop
Obstetric and Gynaecological Applications
14.00 3D/4D ultrasound techniques in obstetrics
14.30 3D/4D ultrasound techniques in obstetrics: Case studies
15.15 Review of 3D ultrasound in Gynaecology..
15.45 Tea
16.00 Practical Session IV: Obstetrics & Gynaecology
19.45 Course Dinner:
Saturday, April 24th.
Obstetric and Gynaecological Applications
08.45 3D ultrasound in the Evaluation of fetal malformations.
09.15 3D face and neck anomalies
09.45 Volume sonography of fetoplacental vessels
10.05 Coffee/Exhibition. Practical session V: Obstetrics
11.00 4D Fetal Echocardiography
11.20 Volume sonography of the pelvic floor after childbirth.
11.40 3D Gynaecological Imaging: Quantitative measurements of vascularity and
volume.
12.00 Practical Session VI: Obstetrics and Gynaecology
12.30 Lunch/Exhibition
Obstetric and Gynaecological Applications
13.30 Latest developments in 3D obstetric applications
14.00 The Role of 3D Ultrasound in reproductive medicine.
14.30 Redefining uterine perfusion with 3D power Doppler angiography
15.00 Tea/Exhibition/Practical Session VII: Obstetrics
15.15 Multiple Choice Examination
16.00 Course closes
“Sonography in Gastroenterology”
June 17-19, 2004 in Thurnau near Bayreuth, Germany.Address for contact and registration:
Dr. Klaus Dirks
Medizinische Klinik, Klinikum Bayreuth
Preuschwitzer Str. 101
95445 Bayreuth
Germany
Tel.: 0921/ 400 6413, Fax.: 0921/ 400 6409
Mail: [email protected]
www.sonoweb.de
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Ultraschall 2004; 25 19
EUROSON SchoolInternational Breast Ultrasound School in
conjunction with the Latvian Association of
Roantgenologists and Radiologists
Advanced Breast Imaging Seminar, Hotel Latvia, Riga, Latvia,
Friday and Saturday, September 17-18, 2004
Invitation
We wish to invite you to attend the Advanced Breast Ultrasound Seminar to be
held on September 17 and 18, 2004 at the Hotel Latvia in Riga, Latvia.
The seminar program consists of lectures, workshops, panel discussion and
case presentations, and has been organized by the International Breast Ultra-
sound School (LBUS)in conjunction with the Latvian Association of Roentge-
nologists and Radiologists (LRRA). This seminar is the first comprehensive bre-
ast teaching programme in the Baltic States, and has been structured to meet
the requirements of continuing medical education with contributions from an
expert local and international faculty. We look forward to seeing you in Riga.
Dr. Jack Jellins, Founding President — IBUS
Ardis Platkajis, President — LRRA
Faculty Members
Dr Edward Azavedo — Sweden, Dr Sabine Pankl-Huber — Austria, Professor
Dace Baltina — Latvia, Professor Rainer Otto — Switzerland, Dr Jack Jellins — Aus-
tralia, Dr Ingrida Slosberga — Latvia, Professor Alexander Mundinger — Germa-
ny, Dr William E. Svensson — United Kingdom, Dr Sulev Ulp — Estonia
Registration fee: € 220,- before July 30, 2004
Registration fee: € 260,-
Concessional fees apply to members of the Baltic States or Eastern European
medical societies
Registration fee: €50,- before July 30, 2004
Registration fee: € 75,-
Trainee registrants are eligible for a reduced fee of € 150,- and € 180,- respec-
tively, and € 40,- and € 55,- respectively for members of the Baltic States or Eas-
tern European medical societies
Seminar Secretariat: Con-Ex Latvia Tours Group, 8 Kalku Str.LV-1050 Riga, Lat-
via, Tel: +3717085014, Fax: +371 782 0020,
E-mail: [email protected]
For general information visit the IBUS homepage at: http://www.ibus.org or
send an E-mail to: [email protected]
Session Topics
— Imaging strategies for cancer detection, — Advantages and limitations of
imaging modalities, — Differential diagnosis, Interventional procedures, Tu-
mour extension and multifocality,— Screening strategies, Postsurgical ima-
ging, Future directions.
Lecture Topics -
— Historical perspectives of breast ultrasound — The “signal-to-noise“ concept
— The tomographic approach,— Pathological sprectrum of lumps, — Current
status of breast imaging, — Imaging patterns of premenopausal women, — Be-
nign and malignant ultrasonic diagnostic criteria, Mammographic interpreta-
tion criteria, Use of colour Doppler to improve diagnostic accuracy of breast ul-
trasound, Cell harvesting, Tissue harvesting, Imaging of intraductal cancer
spread, Preoperative staging of invasive cancer, Screening options for women
at increased risk, — The breast cancer screening program in Estonia:
2002-2006, Tissue reactions after breast conserving therapy, Imaging of the
augmented breast, — Colour Doppler and contrast enhancing agents, Compu-
ter-assisted detection, Quality assurance, guidelines and accreditation, Ad-
vances in breast ultrasound plus Interactive workshops, panel discussions and
case presentations.
The official language will be English
A book of reference materials will be distributed to each registrant
EUROSON School
Breast Ultrasound
Romania, Craiova, 19—20 September 2004
University of Medicine and Pharmacy —Craiova National Society of OncologyLocal Organizing Committee:
Presidents: Andrei Bondari, Florinel Badulescu
Secretary: Viorela Enachescu
Treasurer: Aristida Georgescu
Members: Dragos Camen, Daniela Dumitrescu, Mihai Popescu,
Luana Tarabic
Preliminary Program
Saturday, 18 September
18.00—20.00 Welcome reception
Sunday, 19 September
08.30—09.00 Opening ceremony
09.00—10.30 Scientific Programme: Standards of breast US, guidelines for US
examination, equipment requirements.
10.30—11.00 Coffee break
11.00—13.00 Scientific programme: Examination technique , echoanatomy,
other imaging breast sections.
13.00—15.30 Lunch
15.30—18.00 Scientific programme: Inflammatory diseases and benign tu-
mors
20.00—22.00 Reception
Monday, 20 September
09.00—11.00 Scientific programme: Malignant tumors
11.00—11.30 Coffee break
11.30—13.00 Scientific programme: Interventional procedures
13.00—15.00 Lunch
15.00—17.00 Interactive workshops covering ultrasound, X - ray mammogra-
phy, magnetic resonance imaging and other investigative techniques
17.00—18.00 Final test
Registration Contact
Viorela Enachescu MD. University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova
Mail:Stirbei Voda Street, no. 16, 200374 Craiova, Romania
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Fax: 004.251.562824,
Phone: 004.251.533516,/004.251.418291
Registration fees Payment details
Presenting authors: free of charge
Participants: 100,- €
Resident doctors: 50,- €
Accompanying persons: 50 ,- €
Bank Transfer to: FUNDATIA MEDI-
CINA
BANCA COMERCIALA "ION TIRIAC"
Account no:
17.10.121.971.005-EUR
17.10.121.971.009-USD
17.10.121.971.002-ROL
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Ultraschall 2004; 25
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Report On the British Medical Ultrasound Society congressHarrogate — December, 10—12, 2003
For BMUS the highlight of the year is always the Annual Scien-
tific Meeting and for most this is the last meeting of the year.
Many regard this as the start of Christmas and are in appropriate
festive mood when they arrive for the conference but this does
not prevent very active scientific participation by most.
This year’s meeting was in Harrogate, within easy reach of se-
veral big cities including Manchester and Leeds, again a very po-
pular venue for the Society. We have met here now on four oc-
casions, each meeting being very successful both scientifically
and socially. Many people gathered for the Civic Reception be-
fore the opening of the Congress, an opportunity to meet old
friends, make new ones and to be welcomed by the Lord Mayor
of Harrogate in the convivial atmosphere of the unique
conference centre with its spiral walkway. Everyone attending
the meeting in Harrogate gets plenty of exercise as there is no
feasible alternative means of reaching the lecture theatre apart
from walking up this gentle incline.
The meeting itself commenced the following morning with
three parallel sessions running throughout the day. Abdominal
ultrasound dominated in the main auditorium with a mixture of
other topics including physics, paediatrics, and sonographic is-
sues in the other venues. The very popular hands on workshops
were repeated enabling delegates to explore a number of areas
of practical ultrasound with advice from experts drawn from far
and wide.
The second day of the conference covered a number of obstetric
topics in the main auditorium with vascular, abdominal, vete-
rinary and breast sessions elsewhere. The highlight of the day
was the Donald McVicar Brown lecture which this year was
given by Professor Francis Duck on the fascinating subject of the
heritage and horizons of ultrasound. His lecture covered a wide
range of topics including some most unusual devices to en-
courage weight loss but culminating in fascinating insights into
the future.
The final day of the conference covered more obstetric, physics,
vascular, and small parts sessions.
Whilst the majority of the meeting consists of guest lectures
from both national and international experts in their fields a
pleasing number of proffered papers were presented in most
areas and these continued to be of a high standard. The meeting
is accompanied by a scientific poster exhibition with high
quality exhibits no doubt encouraged by the substantial prizes
on offer for the best.
Some will remember (some more easily than others!) the social
program. The highlight of the Wednesday evening was an infor-
mal evening with an eight piece soul band the Blooze Doctors
led very ably by the husband of the current President of BMUS,
Jane Bates. For those of a more sedate disposition a Jazz Quartet
was available. The Thursday evening entertainment was
provided by the Annual Dinner at the Majestic Hotel. The
Annual Dinner was followed by a very lively Disco which went
on until the early hours of the morning and showed many senior
members of BMUS ( and even the President Elect of EFSUMB ) in
a different light from the more usual sedate persona they
normally show.
No report of the meeting would be complete without comment
on the most extraordinary event of Tuesday evening. The
President Elect of BMUS locked himself in the bathroom and
was seen walking along the balcony of the first floor of the hotel
clad only in a small hand towel, this being his only means of
escaping from his room. Unfortunately he was foolish enough
to reveal this information to several other members so this will
now be recorded for posterity.
As usual no conference like this takes place without an enor-
mous amount of work from an organizing committee ably led by
the aforementioned President Elect but with the Scientific Pro-
gramme led by Pat Smith and the Social Program by Heather Ve-
nables.
Manchester 2004 seems a long way away and yet those of us
who have being going to BMUS for many years realize it will be
around all too soon. There will be new science, an excellent so-
cial program and probably more interesting but unpredictable
events to be recorded.
David Pilling, Past President BMUS
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Ultraschall 2004; 25 21
DIARY DATES
March 20, 2004
Special Workshop - "Ultrasound and Breast Cancer: Current sta-
tus and future trends". A workshop presented by the Interna-
tional Breast Ultrasound School (IBUS) in partnership with the
4th European Breast Cancer Conference. CCH Congress Centrum
Hamburg. Contact: IBUS at [email protected]
April 7—9, 2004
London, UK EUROSON School on 3d Ultrasound Imaging – For
further details and registration forms please contact: Secreta-
riat: HITEC (Hammersmith Hospital), Du Cane Road, London
W12 OHS, UK. E-mail +44 (0)20 8383 1601 Fax: +44 (0)20 8383
1610 E-mail: [email protected]
April 27—28, 2004
NPL International Conference on Advanced Metrology for Ultra-
sound in Medicine, Teddington, UK. For further details please
contact: Adam Shaw, Centre for Acoustical and Ionising Radia-
tion National Physical Laboratory, Queen's Road, Teddington,
Middlesex TW11 0LW. +44 (0)20 8943 6581 Fa: +44 (0)20 8614
0421 E-mail: [email protected] Web:
www.amum2004.npl.co.uk
May 7, 2004
VIII World Congress of Echocardiography and Vascular Ultra-
sound. Venue: Antalya, Turkey. Contact: Navin C. Nanda, MD,
President ISCU, PO Box 323, Gardendale, AL 35071, USA. Tel:
+ 1 205 934 8256; Fax:+ 1 205 934 6747; E-mail: [email protected]
May 17, 2004
7th Congress of the Asian Federation of Societies for Ultrasound
in Medicine and Biology (AFSUMB)/77th Meeting Japan Society
of Ultrasonics in Medicine. Venue: Utsunomyia-City, Tochiqi, Ja-
pan. Contact: Prof. K Itoh, Dept of Clinical Lab. Medicine, Jichi
Medical School, Minamikawachi, Tochiqi-ken 329 0498, Japan.
Tel:+ 81 285 587 385; Fax:+ 81 285 448 249; E-mail: itokoiti.@ji-
chi.ac.jp Website: http://www.congre.co.jp/afsumb2004/
May 19, 2004
IXth International MASU Congress and International course Ve-
nue: Al Assad University Hospital, Damascus, Syria, MASU Web-
site: http://www.agonet.it/masu
June 5—8, 2004
EUROSON 2004, 16th EFSUMB Congress, Zagreb, Croatia in con-
junction with CSUMB. Contact: hko Lašinska cesta 94, HR –
10000 Zagreb + 385 1 236 0052/00385 1 2347661, Fax:+ 385 1
234 76 63, E-mail:[email protected], Web-
site:http://www.euroson2004.com
June 14—16, 2004
XIX European Congress of Perinatal Medicine, Athens, Greece,
Contact: C&C International S.A., 16 Paradissou Strr., 151 25
Athens, Greece. + 30 210 6889100, Fax: + 30 210 6844777,
E-mail: [email protected], Website:www.cnc.gr
June 17—19, 2004
EUROSON school on - “Sonography in Gastroenterology”
Thurnau near Bayreuth, Germany.
For contact and registration: Dr. Klaus Dirks, Medizinische Kli-
nik I, Klinikum Bayreuth, Preuschwitzer , Str. 101, 95445 Bay-
reuth, Germany, Tel.: +49 921 400 6413, Fax.:+49 921 400 6409,
EE-mailmail: [email protected], www.sonoweb.de
June 20, 2004
AIUM Annual Convention.Venue: Desert Ridge Resort, Phoenix,
AZ USA.Contact: Brenda Kinney, AIUM, Tel:+ 1-301-498-4100;
E-mail: [email protected]; Website: www.aium.org
June 20, 2004
Advanced Course in Fetal Medicine Venue: Paphos, Cyprus Con-
tact: www.fetalmedicine.com
June 20—22, 2004
Third World Congress in Fetal MedicineVenue: Nicosia, Cyprus
Contact: www.fetalmedicine.com
August 31, 2004
14th World Congress on Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecol-
ogy. Venue: Stockholm, Sweden. Contact: Ms S Johnson, Ex. Dir.
ISUOG, 3rd Fl, Lanesborough Wing, St Georges Hospital Medical
School, Cranmer Terrace, London SW 17 ORE, UK. Tel:+ 44 20
8725 2505; Fax:+ 44 20 8725 0212; E-mail: john-
September 17—18, 2004
2004–EUROSON SCHOOL on ADVANCED BREAST IMAGING -
IBUS–Advanced Breast Imaging Seminar Riga, Latvia. Contact:
IBUS Secretariat at [email protected], http://www.ibus.org.
September 19—20, 2004
EUROSON SCHOOL–Breast Course–Craiova, Romania. Contact:
Prof Radu Badea, Secretary SRUMB, Departamentul de ultra-
sonografie, clinica Medicala III, str. Croitorilor 19-21, 3400
Cluj-Napoca, Romania, E-mail:[email protected]
September 23, 2004
ASUM 2004. 34th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian
Society for Ultrasound in Medicine. Venue: Hilton, Sydney, Aus-
tralia. Contact: ASUM, 2/181 High Street, Willoughby, NSW,
2068. Tel: +61 2 9958 7655; Fax: +61 2 9958 8002;
E-mail: [email protected]
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Ultraschall 2004; 25
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DIARY DATES
October 6—10, 2004
Ultraschall 2004–Dreiländertreffen–Hannover Congress Cen-
trum, 30175 Hannover, Germany. Contact: CPO HANSER SER-
VICE, Hanser & Co GmbH, Zum Ehrenhain 34, 22885 Barsbüttel,
Germany, Tel.: +49 40 670 88 20, Fax: +49 40 670 32 83,
E-mail:[email protected]
October 8—9, 2004
The Research and Developments Meeting. Contact: www.fetal-
medicine.com
December 8—10, 2004
36th BMUS Annual Scientific Meeting and Exhibition, Man-
chester international Convention Centre. For further details
please contact the BMUS office, 36 Portland Place, London W1B
1LS. +44 (0)20 7636 3714 Fax: +44 (0)20 7323 2175
E-mail: [email protected]
— 2005—
June 19, 2005
AIUM Annual Convention. Venue: Walt Disney World Swan and
Dolphin, Orlando, FL USA.
Contact: Brenda Kinney, AIUM, Tel:+ 1-301-498-4100;
E-mail: [email protected]; Website: www.aium.org
September 25—28, 2005
EUROSON 2005, 17th EFSUMB Congress: Palexpo, Geneva, Swit-
zerland, in conjunction with the Dreiländertreffen at the Palex-
po Geneva. Contact: Scientific Secretariat: Prof François Terrier,
Radiologie Hôpital Cantonal Universitaire Genève 1211, Genève
14, Switzerland, Tel : + 41 22 3727001, Fax:+ 41 223727047,
E-mail: [email protected]
September 29— October 2, 2005
ASUM 2005, 35th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian
Society for Ultrasound in Medicine.Venue: Adelaide Convention
Centre, Adelaide.Contact: ASUM, 2/181 High Street, Willough-
by, NSW, 2068. Tel: +61 2 9958 7655; Fax: +61 2 9958 8002;
E-mail: [email protected]
—2006—
May 18, 2006
X World Congress of Echocardiography and Vascular Ultra-
sound. Venue: Marrakesh, Morocco
Contact: Navin C. Nanda, MD, President ISCU, PO Box 323, Gar-
dendale, AL 35071, USA. Tel:+ 1 205 934 8256; Fax:+ 1 205 934
6747; E-mail: [email protected]
May 28 ,2006
11th Triennial Congress World Federation for Ultrasound in
Medicine and Biology. Venue: Seoul, Korea.
Contact: Byung Ihn CHOI, M.D., Congress Secretariat,
Tel: +82 2 760 2515; Fax: + 82 2 743 6385; E-mail: choibi@rad-
com.snu.ac.kr; Web:http://www.wfumb2006.com
September 22—26, 2006
EUROSON 2006, 18th Congress of the European Federation of
Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, Bologna, Italy.
Contact: EFSUMB Secretariat. E-mail:[email protected]