Over 29,000 radiology professionals from 134 countries around the world attended the 2020 edition of the RSNA annual conference, according to figures from the Oak Brook, IL, society.
The RSNA reported final attendance of 29,339 individuals for its virtual meeting, which had the theme "Human Insight/Visionary Medicine." A major focus at this year's meeting was the use of medical imaging to diagnose cases of COVID-19, while artificial intelligence (AI) was a major theme as well, as has been the case in past meetings.
The final number of attendees is up significantly from October, when the RSNA reported that over 14,000 people had registered for the conference. The 2019 edition of the conference, held in Chicago, ended up with final attendance of 51,800 attendees, split between professional attendees and exhibitors.
The RSNA said that the 2020 meeting's virtual format may have attracted many people who ordinarily might not have been able to attend the meeting in the past. The society's figures show a 28% increase in radiologist member registrants compared with 2019, as well as a 78% increase in resident and fellow members. What's more, 40% of professional registrants were from outside North America.
The society also noted that over 1,700 research papers and posters and 1,400 education exhibits were highlighted at the virtual meeting. What's more, the conference included over 120 featured education courses, 40 featured science sessions, and six plenary sessions.
On the social media side, the RSNA reported 111 million views of the #RSNA20 hashtag, with 41,000 likes of posts to the hashtag.
