What specific areas of IR research are you most interested in as an interventional radiologist?
Gloria Salazar, MD, FSIR
Gloria M. Salazar, MD, FSIR: I have a particular interest in venous disease and women’s health. I’m looking forward to seeing new embolic materials that are coming down the pipe, as well as different applications for existing embolic materials. In terms of the venous disease, I look forward to seeing long-term results from different stenting procedures as well as different approaches to pulmonary embolism.
Bulent Arslan, MD, FSIR: I am interested in pretty much everything in IR (kind of an old-school POV), though I specifically enjoy complex portal interventions, aortic interventions, and challenging arterial and venous recanalization.
How has the SIR Annual Meeting Committee evolved in recent years?
GS: One difference for me is that, as the the scientific chair of the meeting, I had to focus more on the abstracts' review process. However, the collaborative aspect of our group remains—we consult with each other on content across all aspects of programming. We are all flexible as we build the program, which makes it easier to collaborate—as does the great relationship we all have with each other.
How did the shortened timeline from SIR 2022 (mid-June to early March) affect the development of the program?
Bulent Arslan, MD, FSIR
GS: It was a challenge—but not just for the AMC. It reduced the time for the interventional radiology community to be able to write up and submit their research. However, we listened to the members' concerns and extended the deadline to allow for more time for authors to prepare submissions. Even with the shortened timeline, our review process is very important to us, so I want to formally thank all the reviewers who made our program so amazing. We will be recognizing the best reviewers at the meeting.
BA: Speaking as one of the newest members of the group (along with Kush Desai), it was an interesting time to learn the processes. Baljendra Kapoor, Erik Cressman and Gloria were great leaders, and we also received tremendous input from Maureen Kohi and past meeting chairs Nadine Abi-Jaoudeh and Tino Peña.
What can you tell us about the abstracts that were submitted this year?
GS: I was delighted to see how the scientific production continued, despite the short time between meetings and the pandemic. There were several new technologies being used and data on relatively new procedures that have long-term follow-up that I’m looking forward to see. I was very pleased to see the mix of basic science, clinical and translational research. The program also shows the increased focus on immunotherapy. At the same time, the program will reflect our evolution as a specialty from basic to translational into clinical research. Lastly, several submissions regarding pulmonary embolism will be seen in the program, which reflects the attention the community has been giving to life-threatening condition.
BA: There were quite a lot of amazing abstracts this year, some of which will be presented as Abstracts of the Year and Featured Abstracts. We received abstracts from variety of subspecialties within IR, with arterial and venous interventions, portal interventions, transplant interventions, and oncologic interventions taking the lead.
What does the chair–vice chair dynamic bring to the scientific program?
GS: The vice chair brings tremendous support to the chair and then carries those experiences and lessons learned forward to the next year’s program. It’s a smart way of sharing the workload while preserving knowledge amongst the AMC members. Bulent provided an amazing degree of expertise throughout the abstract review process and so many other times when a second opinion was valuable.
BA: With all that we’re focusing on these days, the scientific program would be too much for one person to handle. Gloria and I had a lot of additional meetings beyond the scheduled AMC discussions, where hopefully my contributions were helpful.
GS: Next year when Bulent is the chair, working with Kush as vice-chair, they’ll carry forward many of the ideas we’re applying this year, which makes the transition between roles so much more efficient. For example, this year we’re changing our approach to poster sessions. Since most posters are presented by trainees working with mentors, and a big of SIR’s role is to foster interest in research, wanted to improve awareness and visibility of those presentations. Therefore, we invited a group of reviewers to evaluate each poster, so it’ll be a little bit of a competition—which of course all IRs enjoy.
What are you looking forward to most at SIR 2023?
GS: I’m looking forward to seeing everyone presenting their work and all the growth that will come out of it—the future collaborations, the networking, the expansion of their scientific work from the feedback they receive, or even invitations to submit to journals.
Perhaps the most important thing for me is the Wednesday Plenary where we will present the Abstracts of the Year, award the Featured Abstracts and recognize the top posters. This session will acknowledge the researchers’ hard work in elevating patient care and IR, so that for me personally will be the highlight of SIR 2023 because of all the work that’s led up to it.
BA: I am really looking forward to all the scientific sessions and the ideas that will be presented in oral poster or digital poster format. Many of the procedures we perform today originally come out of these sessions, so I’m always happy to learn new treatment options for our patients.
What would you say to a member of the community who is still trying to decide whether to register for SIR 2023?
GS: There’s so much value in having and attending an in-person meeting, with such an incredible variety of topics—from basic research, translational and clinical research covering more than 10 different areas within IR. You get to see the best of what’s being produced at the top, at the highest levels of scientific standards.
You should be there to see this innovation happening live and in person so you can get more ideas to improve your delivery of patient care, wherever you work, whether you’re involved in basic research or whether you’re practicing clinical IR.
BA: I’d add that the SIR annual meeting is the major venue for keeping up with innovation and the expansion of our practices. All the things I’ve learned, and the technologies I’ve seen at the SIR annual meeting has always helped me to improve my clinical practice.
