Welcome to the first installment of this year's Road to RSNA preview of the 2016 RSNA meeting in Chicago. For the eighth year in a row, we're providing a modality-by-modality overview of the most important scientific sessions to serve as your guide to events at McCormick Place.
Our journey along the Road to RSNA begins with our preview of Imaging Informatics, and specifically PACS, deep learning, and teleradiology. Coverage of presentations on related topics such as structured reporting, critical results management, clinical decision support, radiation dose monitoring software, and other analytics topics will be included in our upcoming Healthcare IT section. Meanwhile, 3D and computer-aided detection (CAD) will be the focus of our Advanced Visualization preview, which will also be a later stop on the Road to RSNA.
Deep learning is by far the hottest area in imaging informatics research today, and the dizzying pace of innovation in this field will be fully evident at RSNA 2016. Worried that deep learning will soon make radiologists obsolete? Don't be. Researchers are largely focusing on applying deep-learning technology to improve the practice of radiology and aid radiologists, not replace them.
For example, presenters will describe how deep-learning technology shows potential in applications such as providing automated analysis of image quality, helping to assess risk for breast cancer, differentiating breast tumors, and screening for osteoporosis on CT exams. Other areas of interest include applying deep learning to avoid unnecessary breast biopsies, identify prostate cancer, and uncover biomarkers for disease, as well as detect and label anatomy and disease on imaging studies.
These methods are also being applied to predict whether a patient is likely to miss their radiology appointment and to extract acute findings from radiology reports. In addition to the plethora of scientific presentations on the schedule, the RSNA has also planned a number of other events geared toward machine learning. These include an "Eyes of Watson" demonstration of IBM's technology platform, which will allow attendees to make diagnoses on imaging cases and then watch Watson perform real-time processing on the case. There will also be a hands-on workshop and a controversy session on machine learning.
On the PACS side, attendees will be able to take in presentations on topics such as correlating pathology and radiology results within PACS and also a PACS software tool that improves accuracy for measuring lesions.
See below for previews of these and other imaging informatics-related scientific papers and posters at this year's RSNA meeting. Of course, these are just a sample of the content on offer; a host of refresher courses and educational exhibits on a wide variety of imaging informatics topics also await those who make the trip to Chicago. For more information on those talks and other abstracts in this year's scientific and educational program, click here.
