by Rodney D. Raabe, M.D.
The 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting for the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) was held March 15–20 at the Washington, D.C., Convention Center. The setting for this year’s convention not only served as an excellent venue for the meetings and scientific sessions but also allowed for close access to the nation’s capital and other landmarks.
This year there were 5,317 total registrants, of which 3,407 were physicians, nurses and technologists. There were 466 international doctors at the convention. The meeting included 142 exhibitors.
There were many educational and scientific sessions during the course of the week. The meeting featured two symposiums on opening day and two on the closing day. On the first day, the symposiums presented two comprehensive courses: “Peripheral Vascular Disease” and “Morbidity and Mortality—Learning From our Mistakes.” The final half-day symposiums concentrated on “New Therapies in Interventional Oncology” and “Musculoskeletal Interventions.” There were eight plenary sessions; 23 categorical courses; and 24 scientific sessions, which included six to eight abstracts per session. Additionally, there were more than 150 workshops presented during the five-day conference.
Gold medal winners this year included medical doctors Gary Becker; Gary Dorfman; Mark H. Wholey; and Ernest J. Ring, who was recognized for his outstanding service to SIR for many years.
One highlight of the meeting was a categorical course coordinated by the American College of Phlebology’s recent past president, Robert Min, M.D. This course not only dealt with the common treatments of varicose veins but also looked into discussions regarding perferator reflux, pudendal varices, and association with ovarian vein reflux and pelvic congestion. In addition, the meeting featured multiple workshops directly educating interventional radiologists in varicose vein treatments and practice development.
Two very exciting scientific papers were presented this year. The first featured the new deep-vein thrombosis registry, which reported scientific data on its 500 patients. This paper demonstrated that deep-venous thrombosis treatment was quicker with the mechanical trellis device and thrombolytics for breaking up blood clots than with the use of thrombolytics alone. The second scientific paper discussed a breakthrough treatment for severe frostbite in which intra-arterial injection of thrombolytic therapy was successful in reopening recently frozen clotted arteries. This is the first new therapy for frostbite victims in decades.
Overall, the SIR meeting in Washington, D.C., was a tremendous success. The next meeting will be held March 7–12, 2009, in San Diego.