(Vienna, 1st March 2011) Groundbreaking contributions are going to be made by experts from the Medical University of Vienna at the European Congress of Radiologists (ECR, 3rd – 7th March) in Vienna. Amongst others there shall be presentations on work in the field of fetal imaging, a seminar on MRI reliability officers and the start of a large-scale national multicenter study into tomosynthesis.
Vienna is the international centre for Diagnostic Radiology from the 3rd to 7th March. 19,000 radiologists shall be discussing the current status and perspectives for the future with regard to the field of Diagnostic Radiology within the context of the ECR (European Congress of Radiology). Experts from the Medical University of Vienna shall be delivering forward-looking contributions.
MRI reliability through specialist training
With the development and implementation of a seminar on MRI reliability officers Univ. Prof. Dr. Siegfried Trattnig, Professor for Radiology with a focus on High-Field Magnetic Resonance, is setting the standards in the field of MRI reliability. Through the increasing distribution of High-Field 3 Tesla MRI devices this aspect is gaining more and more significance. The European MRI Society (ESMRMB) is showing great interest in providing this seminar course throughout Europe. The extensive know-how of the team around Siegfried Trattnig at the Centre for Excellence in Ultra-High-Field MRI of the MedUni Vienna, which is leading the way with a clinical focus at one of the few 7 Tesla MRIs in the world, is passed on during the certified training.
Reliability of diagnosis in breast cancer
Whereas mammography is established as the gold standard in breast cancer screening, Univ. Prof. Dr. Thomas Helbich and Dr. Thomas Moritz have taken the initiative with a large national multicenter study into the clinical assessment of tomosynthesis. Compared with mammography, tomosynthesis as a cross-sectional imaging procedure shows three-dimensional images and thereby enables breast tumours and microcalcifications to be better detected; the first results are very promising. Helbich and Moritz expect that with the new technology the detection rates of breast cancer shall be significantly improved, the number of false positives shall fall and fewer supplementary examinations such as, for example, ultrasound and MRI, shall be necessary.
Prognostic reliability in fetal imaging
Another highlight of the ECR 2011 is a contribution by the team around Univ. Prof. Dr. Daniela Prayer in fetal imaging. The group with Prayer is to-date the only group in the world which successfully uses new MRI methods (e.g. tractography, functional MRI) in utero. On the one hand statements with regard to the development of cerebral functions, which had not previously been possible, have been able to be made through these methods, and on the other hand certain pathologies can be characterised more precisely through the visualisation of intracerebral pathways. As a result better prognostic statements with regard to the expected cerebral development can be made than that which was previously possible. Within the context of the ECR, Daniela Prayer is also presenting the first textbook in the world on Fetal Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
