by SIR Staff
From miniature ice balls that can zap pain and lung tumors to a method that shrinks enlarged prostates, interventional radiologists presented the latest research on minimally invasive, image- guided treatments at “IR Reaching Out,” the Society of Interventional Radiology’s 38th Annual Scientific Meeting, held April 13–18 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. This gathering of nearly 5000 physicians, scientists and allied health professionals dedicated to improving patient care through image-guided therapy featured more than 400 scientific presentations and posters covering the latest trends in interventional radiology research and a bustling technical exhibit hall with about 150 exhibits and product demonstrations.
“The SIR Annual Scientific Meeting has become an important destination for attendees who come from a broad range of diverse clinical interests and practice settings with a desire to learn about and present important research,” said Gary P. Siskin, MD, FSIR, the Annual Scientific Meeting chair. “We chose the theme, IR Reaching Out, to illustrate the many ways the meeting provides valuable education to community and university-based physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and radiology assistants, nurses, technologists, hospital administrators and industry partners,” said Siskin, who is professor and chair of the department of radiology at Albany Medical College, Albany, NY.
“The programming for SIR 2013 reflected in the breadth of this year’s scientific studies and in the extremely relevant content in the meeting’s evidence-driven sessions,” said Daniel B. Brown, MD, FSIR, SIR 2013 scientific program chair, who will chair SIR’s 39th Annual Scientific Meeting, March 22–27, 2014, in San Diego. Brown, who is professor and director, division of interventional oncology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, noted the popularity of several new sessions including “In the Trenches,” an in-depth exploration of the issues and challenges from interventional radiology’s front line and “Meet the Professors,” small group sessions that allowed for focused, direct interaction with the specialty’s most experienced practitioners. The meeting schedule included more than 250 unique educational and scientific sessions designed to engage the more than 550 residents, fellows and medical students who also attend, as well as a growing contingent of international attendees from more than 60 countries.
SIR hosted two news conferences and one premeeting national press teleconference and increased coverage of SIR 2013 through social sharing and two sessions of a social media workshop (“So Me: So You”), which trained nearly 40 attendees, in addition to a running Twitter commentary on press conferences, workshops, plenary sessions and exhibitor booths.
Significant scientific findings presented in two SIR news conferences included early reports on prostatic artery embolization (PAE) to reduce blood flow to the prostate, shrinking it and significantly reducing symptoms; fatmelting lasers that may replace the surgical “tummy tuck,” freezing damaged nerves to alleviate chronic pain, and a new multicenter trial that suggests the same treatment may also be used to freeze and kill cancerous tumors that have spread to the lungs. Early results showing that irreversible electroporation (IRE) can attack tumors without damage to nearby tissue. Another report noted that stents coated with anti-clotting medicine help to open blocked leg arteries and may prevent amputation in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD).
SIR’s inaugural “Abstract of the Year” indicated that dialysis patients may be helped by stents that keep treatment access sites open longer than balloon angioplasty, and another study showed that stents—not surgery— successfully treated blocked bowel arteries, preventing severe pain, weight loss and death.
The Dr. Charles T. Dotter Lecture, named for one of the founding fathers of interventional radiology, acknowledges an interventional radiologist’s extraordinary contributions to the field and dedicated service to SIR. Daniel Picus, MD, FSIR, vice chair of the division of diagnostic radiology at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis delivered this year’s talk, titled, “In the Blink of an Eye,” where he explored the many changes in interventional radiology during its 40-year history.
SIR presented three gold medals, its highest honor, reserved for those who have helped ensure the future of interventional radiology. This year’s recipients were Wilfrido R. Castañeda-Zuniga, MD, FSIR, a past president of SIR and of the Iberoamerican Society of Interventional Radiology and a member of the National Academy of Medicine in Mexico; David A. Kumpe, MD, FSIR, professor of radiology, surgery and neurosurgery at the University of Colorado, who is a pioneer in both peripheral and neurointervention; and Kenneth R. Thomson, MD, FSIR, one of the most prominent interventional radiologists in Australia and New Zealand, who was recognized for the significant impact he has made on the development and spread of interventional radiology procedures in the Asian/Pacific arena.
Each year, SIR Foundation proudly supports award programs that recognize outstanding achievements in research and innovation by SIR members. SIR Foundation’s Leaders in Innovation Award is an acknowledgement of those who have conceptualized and implemented an idea such as a device, technique, approach or clinical practice model that has a significant improvement upon the quality of patient care or the economics of interventional practice. The 2013 award was presented to the founder and current medical director of Baptist Cardiac and Vascular Institute in Miami, Barry T. Katzen, MD, FSIR, FACR, FACC, and one of the first interventional radiologists to perform a renal angioplasty in the US. Joseph P. Erinjeri, MD, PhD, a researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, received SIR Foundation’s Dr. Gary J. Becker Young Investigator Award, for an exploration of image-guided ablation and pharmacologic therapy.
SIR Foundation’s Frederick S. Keller, MD, Philanthropist of the Year Award was presented to Anne C. Roberts, MD, FSIR, professor of clinical radiology and chief of vascular and interventional radiology at the University of California, San Diego. Roberts was recognized as a dedicated visionary who has fostered the growth of SIR, SIR Foundation and interventional radiology over the past several decades.
In recognition of high-quality research presented by medical students at the Annual Scientific Meeting, SIR Foundation also presented six Dr. Constantin Cope Medical Student SIR Annual Scientific Meeting Research Awards to Terence Choy, Alexander Sheu and Patrick Tyler, all of the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago; Ahmad Parvinian, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine; Kaleb Smithson and Sean Woods, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock.
And, together with the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, the SIR Foundation presented the 2012 JVIR Editor’s Awards for Outstanding Clinical Research Paper to Abdul Mueed Zafar, MD, University of Texas HSC San Antonio and Outstanding Laboratory Investigation to Young Il Kim, MD, a visiting scholar at Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
SIR Foundation also held its third fundraising Gala, which raised more than $300,000 for research and education, at New Orleans’ unique Mardi Gras World. During SIR 2013, Scott C. Goodwin, MD, FSIR, Hasso Brothers professor and chair of the department of radiological sciences at the University of California, Irvine, and the clinical volunteer professor of radiological sciences at the UCLA Medical Center Los Angeles, assumed office as the society’s 2013–14 president. SIR also introduced a new slate of Executive Council officers including James B. Spies, MD, MPH, FSIR (president-elect), Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC; Alan H. Matsumoto, MD, FSIR (secretary), University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville; Charles E. Ray Jr., MD, Ph.D., FSIR (treasurer), University of Colorado, Denver and Marshall E. Hicks, MD, FSIR (immediate past president), University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.
SIR’s Executive Council councilors include George A. Fueredi, MD, FSIR, Great Lakes Radiologists, Lake Geneva, Wis., health policy and economics; John A. Kaufman, MD, MS, FSIR, Dotter Interventional Institute, Portland, OR., SIR Foundation chair; Daniel B. Brown, MD, FSIR, professor and director, division of interventional oncology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Annual Scientific Meeting; Daniel Siragusa, MD, Shands Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL., graduate medical education; Brian Funaki, MD, FSIR, University of Chicago, postgraduate medical education; Matthew S. Johnson, MD, FSIR, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, member services; and Boris Nikolic, MD, MBA, FSIR, Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, standards.
Councilors-at-large include Suresh Vedantham, MD, FSIR, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis; Laura Findeiss, MD, FSIR, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville and Sanjay Misra, MD, FSIR, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, Minn. Ex-officio members include Terence A.S. Matalon, MD, FSIR, Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, AMA delegate and Ziv J Haskal, MD, FSIR, University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, editorin- chief, Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology.
The Society of Interventional Radiology is holding its 39th Annual Scientific Meeting March 22–27, 2014, at the San Diego Convention Center. The theme of the meeting is “Convergence,” reflecting the many factors that come together both in daily practice and in the specialty of interventional radiology as a whole. For more information about SIR and the society’s Annual Scientific Meeting, please visit www.SIRweb.org. During 2013, SIR is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Learn more about this year-long celebration of 40 years of innovation.
From miniature ice balls that can zap pain andlung tumors to a method that shrinks enlargedprostates, interventional radiologists presentedthe latest research on minimally invasive, image-guided treatments at “IR Reaching Out,”the Society of Interventional Radiology’s 38thAnnual Scientific Meeting, held April 13–18 atthe Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in NewOrleans. This gathering of nearly 5000 physicians,scientists and allied health professionalsdedicated to improving patient care throughimage-guided therapy featured more than 400scientific presentations and posters coveringthe latest trends in interventional radiology researchand a bustling technical exhibit hall withabout 150 exhibits and product demonstrations.
