Feature | RSNA | January 16, 2023 | By Christine Book

RSNA 2022 Theme in Action: Empowering Patients and Partners in Care

RSNA leaders, presenters and members combined to offer a plethora of insights and information which set the stage for a packed 5-day event that lived up to its theme

Throughout RSNA 2022, the ITN editorial team kept its readers up to speed on key highlights — from plenary and educational sessions to findings from a range of important studies — with nightly online updates on the day’s significant news. This coverage, including a Photo Gallery, can be found in ITN’s RSNA 2022 extensive online coverage. We will continue to deliver coverage that captures the messaging from, and momentum within, the imaging community, with a focus on major topics and trends.

RSNA Expands Focus on AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) took the stage in an increasingly significant way this year. The offerings RSNA put in place for member attendees included:

• AI Showcase, where one could explore new products and engage with exhibitors offering next-level AI software, product demonstrations and solutions;

• AI Theater offered well-attended daily presentations from companies with new technologies fueling the future of imaging AI; this area also hosted the RSNA 2022 AI Challenge winner program;

• Imaging AI in Practice (IAIP) demonstrations showed how radiology systems can be integrated to efficiently include AI-based applications at several points in the workflow;

• Deep Learning Lab, where classes provided attendees with the opportunity to engage with deep learning tools, write basic algorithms, learn how to organize data for implementation and improve their general knowledge of AI technology. The Lab featured 14 unique sessions developed by RSNA members, covering a range of AI topics and skills including several beginner-friendly options.

Upcoming in future issues: Coverage of AI-related educational sessions, including “Back to Basics: Radiology AI in 2022,” and “Machine Learning in Radiation Oncology,” which included leading experts with valuable insights and updates.

Editor’s Notes on Impactful Imaging Quotes

Of the hundreds of educational sessions, scientific findings presented and conversations, we challenged ourselves to find the top quotes that underscored the theme of this year’s meeting. With more to come in ongoing coverage, and in the spirit of “In Case You Missed It (ICYMI),” here, then, a handful worthy of sharing.

On the Value of Imaging and Personalized Medicine

“The major challenge is determining how we demonstrate imaging’s value to the greater healthcare community. Patient reported outcomes (PRO) are understudied and underreported, offering metrics which have been tested and validated … the research is an endeavor worthy of our support. Armed with this knowledge, we can expand our own lens to see the bigger picture of our patients’ medical journey. Imaging’s true value to the patient — quality of life, comfort, peace of mind, certainty, hope, trust — lies below the surface for us to explore together.”

—Bruce G. Haffty, MD, MS, RSNA Immediate Past President; Chair of Radiation Oncology, Associate Vice Chancellor for Cancer Programs, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey; System Director of Radiation Oncology, RWJBarnabas Health

“I challenge all of us to be more present and to communicate better with our patients, and I challenge you all to be more vulnerable … vulnerability leads to authenticity, allowing us to truly connect with our colleagues and our patients…we hold the key to life-saving tests. The future of radiology is bright, and lies in our assuming more responsibility for our patients.”

—Elizabeth A. Morris, MD, Radiology Department Chair at University of California Davis, breast cancer survivor, during the Opening Session

“If you think about total care, there are arenas of personalized medicine that all of us are involved in and need to continuously be involved in, and that has transformative effects in medicine. We have been practicing this for decades, we just haven’t called it personalized medicine … I think there is a new sense of autonomy in patients. We need to respect that autonomy, understand that that autonomy is changing, and that the only way forward is to really have a with patient as opposed to for patient model for medicine.”

—Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Oncologist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, during a post-Plenary session Fireside Chat with Dr. Haffty

“It would be a good public relations move for us to literally step from darkness into light. We can bust the myth of radiologists hiding in hospital basements behind computer screens and show that we are irreplaceable.”

—Beth Vettiyil, MD, Assistant Professor, West Virginia University, addressing the importance of improving patient access to, and communication with, radiologists

On AI’s Impact on Imaging

“What’s really exciting is the amount of prospective studies currently launching in European countries. We heard what’s happening in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and a host of other countries, and this is where the evidence is going to come from that is really going to change policy and recommendations — for either single reading or double reading, and how AI could potentially replace double reading with single reading plus AI. I think in the next 2-3 years, as the initial results come out of those trials, we’re going to see some exciting transformations in breast cancer screening.”

—Christoph I. Lee, MD, University of Washington School of Medicine