John Bonner

The exhibition booths occupied by vendors of ultrasound systems at ECR 2010 are likely to be very busy places throughout the congress. Difficult economic conditions are causing a dip in global demand for the more capital-intensive modalities like CT and MRI, and hospital managers are keen for their staff to explore the clinical potential of this versatile and cost-effective technology.

PACS vendors in the technical exhibition at ECR 2010 are demonstrating some of the hottest gadgets that will be filling the toolbox of tomorrow’s distributed radiology services.

Physicians have used palpation regularly as a diagnostic technique since the days of the ancient Greeks. Up to now, the potential value of this method has been explored in the imaging field only by ultrasound research teams, but at this year’s ECR technical exhibition, delegates can see for themselves how the same principles may be combined with MRI to improve diagnosis in patients with liver disease.

Radiology is a medical specialty created by a fertile marriage between biology and physics. But it is an entirely different academic discipline that is the focus of the research by major vendors of CT technology on show this year at the ECR’s technical exhibition. Their studies have centered on the subject that the illustrious 19th century German scientist Carl Friedrich Gauss called “the queen of sciences”: mathematics.

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.

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.

Speed and efficiency are two of the buzzwords used most commonly in the highly competitive field of CT imaging. When the wraps were lifted from the ECR 2009 technical exhibition, the dazzling improvements in data acquisition speed achieved by the new generation of CT scanners emerged. Vendors claim that huge improvements can be expected, in both radiology department workflow and patient safety.