With the renewed interest on urological imaging as shown during the recent Annual EAU Congress in London, the 6th EAU Section of Urological Imaging (ESUI17) Meeting on November 16 in Barcelona promises another opportunity for in-depth discussions on a wide range of key imaging issues.
ESUI17’s overarching theme is “New Technologies and Limited Resources,” a pertinent topic in today’s healthcare systems where health professionals often face dilemmas when delivering optimal diagnostic and treatment strategies at a high cost. A timely and comprehensive follow-up to the 2016 edition, ESUI17 will also be held in conjunction with the 9th European Multidisciplinary congress on Urological Cancers (EMUC).
“Expert speakers will lead the point-counterpoint discussion session on prostate cancer diagnosis. Among the topics are “Let´s break the bank with the costs: MRI before primary biopsy,” which will feature a passionate debate between Nicolas Mottet and Hashim Ahmed- certainly a controversial topic to tackle right in the first round. ESUI’s critical engagement, however, do not stop on technological issues with equally relevant issues such as biomarkers, its development and impact on individualized medicine also scheduled in the meeting agenda,” said ESUI Chairman George Salomon (DE).
The full-day programme is not limited to prostate cancer alone but will also focus on innovations in the diagnosis of renal cell cancer, such as the role of 3D modeling of the vascular anatomy for partial nephrectomy, and an update on contrast-enhanced ultrasound for renal masses, among other topics. Aside from imaging modalities, invited speakers will tackle focal therapy for small renal masses vis-à-vis partial nephrectomy.
Advances in imaging technologies
Technology and their impact on urological practice will be the focus of the session on positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT). PET/CT and upcoming PET tracers for different tumor entities will be examined by opinion leaders and speakers in a session organized in conjunction with the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM).
“Again, ESUI17 aims for a higher level by prioritizing in the programme current and controversial issues in urothelial cancer. And in today’s technology-driven world, the dominant opinion seems to be “Let´s have multiparametric everywhere!” But we pause, take stock and carefully re-consider questions such as “What with multiparametric cystoscopy,” and “Does imaging change immunotherapy in bladder cancer?” These and other relevant topics will be on board during the plenary session to prompt all participants to share knowledge and best practices,” said Salomon.
The day-long ESUI17 returns to prostate cancer issues during the concluding session with topics such as transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) and high-resolution ultrasound, to name a few. In other words, the interest for technological gains conveys the overriding concern to improve the performance of prostate cancer diagnostics.
ESUI has also received in July a good number of abstracts of the latest research for the poster session, where the best will be recognized with the Best Abstract Award. . The poster session will also take place on the same day, and the award winner will receive €1,000 with the generous sponsorship of Exact Imaging.
