On October 13 and 14, the Annual Meeting 2023 of the European Society of Medical Imaging and Informatics took place in Pisa under the motto ‘AI: Connecting the Dots’. Topics covered ranged from workflow optimization of administrative and clinical processes, diagnostic decision support, and structured reporting to large language models and various aspects of data protection. Another essential aspect concerned the future training of radiologists and radiographers to prepare them for the new technology.
In his opening speech, EUSOMII President Peter van Ooijen referred to the constantly increasing number of participants, which, on the one hand, confirms the successful work of the society. On the other hand, for him, the involvement of EUSOMII in the so-called Young Club represents a specific part of the success. After van Ooijen, Emanuele Neri, Professor of Radiology and EUSOMII honorary member, welcomed the guests and entertained them with a lecture that looked back on the society’s past, which was founded as EuroPACS and outed him as an Old School Guy.
In instructive lectures, the speakers called for more standardization in radiomics, for example, or recommended to healthcare professionals that AI projects should only be carried out with computer scientists and that it would be best to include all peripherally affected clinicians. In addition, structured reporting is crying out for more AI use to reduce the currently necessary mouse clicks through deeper data integration and reduce the higher time expenditure.
As international studies show, the growth in data is highest in the healthcare sector compared to other sectors. At the same time, there needs to be more AI know-how among medical professionals, which urgently needs to be eliminated through increased training measures. AI has only become part of medical education in a few countries.
At EUSOMII, radiographers also play an essential role, which will become even more critical with AI because they are the ones who operate the technical equipment and perform the examinations. All speakers agreed that ‚AI will not replace those who know how to use it and expertly evaluate it optimally.‘ Every physician and radiographer should be familiar with the possibilities and risks of AI because the new technology will be the basis for efficient interdisciplinary cooperation as Integrated Diagnostics enters the stage.
Chuck Kahn, Professor of Radiology and Editor of the Radiology Artificial Intelligence, held the keynote lecture about ‘Advancing AI science in medical imaging’. He was also named a new EUSOMII honorary member.
In a pre-meeting, the Bracco AI contest was held, during which small groups of three trainees practiced and competed on different tasks about the training, validation, and testing of Artificial Intelligence models. The winners were awarded and received checks.
The EUSOMII meeting has the potential to leap to the top by not only standing out professionally and conceptually but also by presenting itself in a refreshing format.
So far, the EUSOMII meeting has been a “Who’s Who” of AI scientists and providers in radiology. Users need to be represented even more. However, the annual EUSOMII meeting is already the place to learn about AI they will need for successful work in practice and clinic.