Welcome to the first installment of this year's Road to RSNA preview of the RSNA 2011 conference in Chicago. For the third year in a row, we're providing a modality-by-modality overview of the most important scientific sessions, poster presentations, and educational exhibits to serve as your guide to events at McCormick Place.
PACS technology is always a hot topic at the RSNA meeting, and this year will be no different. Interest in mobile devices continues to explode, no doubt aided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) decision in early 2011 to clear an application for diagnostic use on Apple's iPad and iPhone.
Researchers are now building a body of evidence to support the utility of these devices in a number of applications, a trend that will be particularly evident during a Tuesday morning multisession course devoted to the topic (8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., MSVR31, Room N228).
Check out our preview below of a selection of PACS-related scientific papers, posters, and educational exhibits at this year's RSNA meeting. And also stay tuned for more radiology informatics coverage in our upcoming Healthcare Informatics Road to RSNA section.
Refresher courses
RSNA attendees also won't want to miss this year's schedule of refresher courses. Those interested in image sharing will be able to quickly get up to speed during a refresher/informatics course on Sunday, November 27 (11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., ICII11, Room S501ABC). Advanced visualization is the subject of a Sunday afternoon course, which is being given in conjunction with the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) (2:00 p.m.-3:30 pm., RC126, Room S504CD).
Monday, November 28, will feature another course produced in conjunction with SIIM. The second in a series on practical informatics for the practicing radiologist, this course will hold talks on redesigning the radiology reading environment, changing PACS, and advanced imaging techniques (12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m., ICII22, Room S501ABC).
On Tuesday, November 29, a refresher course on informatics in practice will address quality control in PACS, including talks on the radiologist's role in the image quality process, maintaining data integrity, and implementing a display quality control program (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., RC326, Room S403A). A course on 3D interactive visualization of DICOM images for radiology applications is also scheduled (12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m., ICIA32, Room S401CD).
New trends for breast computer-aided detection (CAD) is the topic for a Tuesday afternoon course (4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m., RC421, Room E352), and CAD enthusiasts can return in the morning on Wednesday, November 30, for a minicourse that tackles the clinical demand of CAD systems in radiology (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., RC523, Room S504AB).
CAD development and evaluation issues are on tap for a morning course on Thursday, December 1 (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., RC623, Room S102D), while a CAD applications minicourse will be held in the late afternoon (4:30-p.m.-6:00 p.m., RC723, Room E353A). Another afternoon course will cover image management of new acquisition modalities (4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m., RC726, Room S102C).
Friday, December 2, will see a slate of three topical refresher courses, including a second course on CAD applications (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., RC823, Room S504CD), a session on enterprise imaging (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., RC826, Room S403A), and a course on virtualization and remote rendering for medical imaging (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., RC830, Room E263).
