Bulent Arslan, MD, FSIR
SIR 2024 Scientific Program chair Bulent Arslan, MD, FSIR, is serving his second year as scientific programs Chair and will move on to workshop chair for SIR 2025.
Kush R. Desai, MD, FSIR, the 2024 scientific program Vice-chair, joined the annual meeting committee last year as special programs coordinator.
Can you tell us about the scientific research that was submitted for this year?
Bulent Arslan, MD, FSIR: This year, we had about 835 oral abstracts and 500 educational exhibit submissions, and we accepted over 390 oral presentations and about 100 educational exhibits. There are a lot of new ideas and projects, especially in interventional oncology, artificial intelligence and robotics fields. It was hard to choose among many excellent studies, but after a meticulous peer review process we have selected some truly exciting, futuristic research, alongside some long-term data.
We also found four abstracts worthy as distinguished abstracts of the year, which will be presented during the plenary session on Wednesday morning.
['Laura Brown', 'NMH Communications']
Kush R. Desai, MD, FSIR
Kush R. Desai, MD, FSIR: The SIR annual scientific meeting is the key event for data release and science in the IR calendar. While other meetings contain education, the annual meeting is where so much innovation and progress on the scientific front is made.
This year, we saw a lot of research on artificial intelligence. We also saw the usual suspects of IR research, such as oncology, venous intervention and arterial intervention. But we're also seeing more and more in the prostate and pain management spaces, particularly with genicular artery embolization. It’s an exciting time to be in IR and I think that's going to be reflected in our scientific content.
Did any topics in particular stand out, or indicate an oncoming trend in research?
BA: As mentioned, we received a lot of excellent submissions on artificial intelligence and robotics. Robotics have been used in surgery for many years, but now it’s being applied to IR—so we have several abstracts regarding IR’s experience with it. AI and robotics were so popular that we will have two sessions dedicated to them during the oral scientific presentations, and there will also be a plenary session on AI and IR.
We also have an abstract about tumor ablation with ultrasound waves. The researchers—who also created the technology—are ablating tumors with ultrasound waves using ultrasound guidance with no needle and no bleeding risk. This could potentially be a newsworthy development in our field.
What are you personally looking forward to about SIR 2024?
BA: The programming this year is very lean and mean, and we’ve organized it so that there is little overlap of the categorical courses and Angio Clubs with the scientific sessions. I have seen some of the most interesting and important studies presented in these scientific sessions, and we wanted to make sure they had the opportunity to shine.
In addition, our categorical sessions and Angio Clubs have been reorganized—we have a total of 100 sessions this year, down from 165 sessions compared to last year. We believe attendees will have a better opportunity to attend every topic they are interested in. All of the redundancies and overlapping topics have been taken out or minimized thanks to collaboration of AMC with clinical councils. I’m very excited to hear feedback on how members like this new structure.
KRD: I feel like it's a tired trope, but it really is true: the SIR meeting is my chance to see the latest and greatest in device innovation and science, reconnect with old friends and network. I’m also looking forward to hearing the Dotter Lecture. I think this year's Dotter Lecture will probably have a different tilt to it, specifically on an economic size, given that our Dotter Lecturer is Ezequiel “Zeke” Silva III, MD, FSIR. He holds a singular place, not only in IR, but in radiology as a member of the RVS Update Committee. I look forward to hearing what he has to say, because he has unique insights into the economic climate that are so important to what we do, how we take care of patients and how we can advocate for ourselves.
In your opinion, what would you say is one of the greatest challenges facing IR as a specialty? How do you think that the annual meeting meets that challenge and rises to that need?
KRD: There are so many challenges: reimbursement cuts or our place in the clinical structure of a hospital and practice environments—whether it’s office-based labs or the hospital, or private practice versus academic practice. I don't think there's any one single problem that the annual meeting can address. Rather, the annual scientific meeting is so big that it provides a forum for discussion on all these topics, and hopefully that generates a path forward on all of them. That's what makes our annual meeting so great.
BA: Everyone has their own opinions and challenges, and because the IR practice pattern is very variable, those challenges change depending on what position you’re in. Personally, I think the biggest challenge for IR is enabling the field's growth as an independent, clinical specialty. Obviously, IR came from diagnostic radiology, which has been a strength for us—we are better at imaging compared to other competing specialties, and that makes us better at image-guided interventions. But when you are a clinical specialty (interventional radiology) controlled by a non-clinical specialty (diagnostic radiology), there will be a disconnect in operations. Many IRs will have challenges in finding the resources for a clinical practice. Losing your ability to interact face-to-face with the patient in today’s medicine creates a challenge. When you are working on aneurysm repairs or oncology, there is no way to effectively practice without seeing the patient before or after their complex therapeutic procedures. Longitudinal care has become part of the DNA of a successful IR practice.
We’re training dedicated, hungry individuals who love to practice clinical IR, and are coming out and going into merged practices where IR isn’t always at the helm, and they’re facing challenges.
At SIR 2024, we will have two town hall meetings to address this, and hopefully engage conversation and encourage us to work with our diagnostic radiology colleagues to find a solution.
What would you say to any members of the IR community who are still trying to decide whether to register for SIR 2024?
BA: I have not missed a single annual scientific meeting since my second year of residency, and I learn so much every year. I love participating as an educator and sharing what I do, but also attending as a learner and getting to experience the shared collective knowledge of so many amazing interventional radiologists doing marvelous work. By attending the annual meeting and going to the scientific sessions, you open your mind to more procedures and techniques than you could imagine—and in turn, those can be offered to your patients. This kind of learning isn’t just how our field grows; it’s how humanity grows.
I encourage all members to come to Salt Lake City and attend at least one scientific session—you will be amazed and will probably get hooked on them. If I’m wrong, I’ll buy you coffee!
KRD: If you're on the fence about attending the annual meeting, I urge you to reconsider because it really has something for everyone and no matter where you practice or how many years you’ve been in the specialty, even if you're a retiree, you have something for to look forward to. If you're a young IR, you can get inspired about the next great frontier in IR and how we're going to tackle it. For an event that really does have something for everyone, I would strongly recommend you reconsider it. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Salt Lake City.
