At this year's RSNA meeting, expect a lot of buzz about breast ultrasound and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), with everything from refresher courses to scientific sessions devoted to these technologies. But also get ready for animated discussion about how best to image dense breasts and also the pros and cons of breast cancer screening.
Kick the week off at a scientific session dedicated to diagnostic breast ultrasound (Sunday, December 1, 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m., SSA01, Arie Crown Theater). Presenters will touch on topics that include how 3D breast ultrasound compares in terms of diagnostic yield to MRI, automated breast ultrasound's performance compared with handheld ultrasound in detecting suspicious calcifications, and whether shear-wave elastography findings can predict lymph node involvement in women with invasive breast cancer. And don't miss Sunday's refresher course on current issues in breast cancer screening (2:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m., RC115, Room S406A).
Check out Monday morning's multisession course on the radiologic features of gynecologic cancers (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., MSRO24, Room S103CD) and some refresher courses on first-trimester ultrasound and the medical physics of mammography (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., RC210 and RC221, Rooms S405AB and S404AB, respectively). Also on Monday morning will be a scientific session devoted to breast MRI (8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., VSBR21, Arie Crown Theater).
Monday afternoon scientific sessions will focus on breast MRI and digital breast tomosynthesis (both from 3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m., SSE01, Arie Crown Theater, and SSE02, Room E450A, respectively). End the day with a special interest session all about breast density (4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m., SPSI24, Room E451A).
Tuesday's program starts with a controversy session on the pros and cons of treating fibroids with uterine artery embolization versus high-intensity focused ultrasound (7:15 a.m.-8:15 a.m., SPSC30, Room E350), and scientific sessions that explore emerging technologies in breast imaging (8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., VSBR31, Arie Crown Theater) and nuclear and molecular breast imaging (10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., SSG01, Room E451A).
Tuesday afternoon, check out a scientific session that will investigate breast screening and density, another that will explore breast CT, and a third that will investigate pregnancy imaging and its complications (3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.; SSJ01, Arie Crown Theater; SSJ02, Room E450A; and SSJ11, Room E351, respectively).
What's on for Wednesday? From 8:30 a.m. until 10:00 a.m., refresher courses will be devoted to advances in gynecologic ultrasound (RC510, Room S405AB), high-resolution radionuclide breast imaging (RC511, Room S505AB), and fallopian tube catheterization (RC550, Room E260). One Wednesday morning scientific session will be all about digital breast tomosynthesis -- specifically, screening outcomes (10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., SSK01, Arie Crown Theater). In the afternoon, attendees can explore multimodality breast imaging (3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m., SSM02, Room E451A).
Thursday morning will feature refresher courses on gynecologic ultrasound (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., RC607, Room N228) and CT of the acute female pelvis (RC608C, Room E450A), as well as new breast imaging strategies (RC617, Room S504CD) and how to increase your gynecological MRI referral base (RC629, Room E353B). Also on Thursday morning, a scientific session will investigate breast cancer screening with ultrasound (10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., SSQ01, Arie Crown Theater).
To wrap up the meeting, check out Friday's refresher course on imaging and treating gynecologic cancer -- what really works and what is cost-effective (8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m., RC807, Room N226), as well as a scientific session on issues in breast cancer screening, including whether biennial screening affects a woman's prognosis (10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m., SST01, Room E450B).
For highlights of the many women's imaging presentations at the RSNA 2013 meeting, read on. And to view the RSNA's list of abstracts for this year's scientific and educational program, click here.
