EFSUMB are delighted to announce that the Congress, Student Congress and the Basic Ultrasound Course (in Italian) tickets are all SOLD OUT!
If you still wish to join us at this exciting event, the “Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound: from basic to advanced application” (residential or webinar mode) Euroson School running in tandem with the Congress still has availability and is sponsored by BRACCO.
Echoes Issue No. 38
[ December 2024 ]
Welcome to the final edition of ECHOES for 2024.
It is with heavy hearts that we mourn the loss of Sudhir Vinayak, WFUMB & MASU President and a friend to many of us. The included eulogy and photo montage reflects the depth to which he was regarded.
There are reports from our Centres of Education in Kenya and Fiji as well as meetings in Zanzibar, Euroson 2024 & RSNA , and updates for WFUMB 2025 in Kyoto. Our new WFUMB president, George Condous sets down what he aims to achieve during his presidency.
Whether or not you are celebrating the festive season we wish you peace & joy.
Please be inspired by this edition & SPREAD THE WORD by forwarding to colleagues.
Administrative Council Meeting, 25th September 2024
The AC meeting was attended by the AFSUMB, ASUM, EFSUMB, FLAUS and MASU councillors who received the reports from the Executive Board and Committee Chairs and provided an update on Federation activities.
Federation Reports
MASU Hassen Gharbi expressed concerns for the sad situation in Africa. Everyone wished Sudhir Vinayak a good recovery.
ASUM Alison Deslandes talked of the appointment of a new CEO which will be announced next week
EFSUMB Christian Jenssen referred to the upcoming EUROSON congress in Naples having a smaller Student congress due to limited room size. The MPUS Thyroid guidelines have been delayed due to PRISMA but are in the final stage. EFSUMB has been busy working on establishing a curriculum for primary care physicians. Thoracic Ultrasound Training Recommendations are ready for submission for publication. A meeting with WFUMB will take place in Naples to discuss joint CEUS non-liver update of the guideline as well as MPUS Breast guidelines
AFSUMB Yung-Liang Wan reported on behalf of Wan Jae Lee. The President of the AFSUMB Dr. Jeong Yeon Cho as well as the AFSUMB AC members will continue working diligently to enhance ultrasound education through workshops, webinars, online video materials and other resources.
AFSUMB strives to promote cooperation in research, education, and the dissemination of scientific knowledge among its affiliated societies. Currently, AFSUMB has 17 affiliated countries/regions, but there is still ample opportunity to expand affiliations, benefiting more populations and healthcare providers across Asia.
The WFUMB 2025 will be held in Japan and congress President Dr. Iwaki has been working tirelessly to ensure the congress will be a highly successful meeting.
FLAUS Edda Chaves reported that the FLAUS Congress was held in Panama City on August 25 /26. With great support from the industry partners. There were participants from 14 countries enjoying the high-level scientific program of lectures and hands on activities .
As part of the activities for FLAUS, the 2023-2025 board of directors has invited each society within its Federation to be in charge of: monthly webinars, which have been held since October 2023, with excellent assistance and feedback, presentation of case of the month, published on the FLAUS web page and weekly publications in the FLAUS Instagram pages .
FLAUS has been present and supported activities in México, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Venezuela. In collaboration with Samsung, a two-day update in elastography was held in Panama City in July with lectures and hands on activities.
Committee Reports
- Safety Comm Chair Carmel Moran reported the Committee is rationalizing the safety statements on the website. The Safety TFG is completing the work from the previous term, looking at the discrepancies in the different Society statements in TI, MI and skull heating with ultrasound, ophthalmic applications looking at acoustic output as well as lung imaging. A nomination for a physician or clinician interested in Safety is invited to join the Committee.
- Education Comm report from Franca Meloni was viewed and the new Centres of Education in Croatia and Dominican Republic were approved by the AC.
- Student Education TFG Chair Roxana Siri noted that the Asian Student webinars have been viewed in large numbers. ASUM has declined to host the student webinars due to all their current office changes, but Adrian Goudie has proposed a webinar series looking at issues relevant to low resource areas and Centres of Education. A Student US congress is being held during EUROSON 2024 and a Student Summer School for students and residents which will be hosted by EFSUMB in September 2025 when there is no EUROSON Congress.
- eLearning TFG Chair Caroline Ewertsen thanked all the contributors to the interactive Case of the Month. As Caroline is stepping down from this role she is inviting a successor to come forward.
- Publications Comm Chair Adrian Saftoiu congratulated Giovanna Ferraioli for her work on the Liver Elastography Guidelines and the paper on Fat Liver Quantification. The FUSION paper should be ready early 2025 and is following the PRISMA process. The AI paper by Xin Wu Cui and Adrian Goudie is in 2nd revision (UMB). The series of published papers commenting and illustrating guidelines (Atlas project) has reached over 10.
The reports from UMB Editor in Chief Paul Sidhu and WFUMB Open Access Editor in Chief, Manjiri Dighe suggest both journals are going from strength to strength. UMB is on target for 240 published papers in 2024 which will help the impact factor and has impressive citation rates. Manjiri called for more reviewers and anyone interested in joining as an associate editor. She was congratulated in the growth of the journal in just two years.
The WFUMB 2023 audited accounts are online here >>
The 2023 Form 990 is also hosted on the WFUMB website here >>
The AC meeting closed and the General Assembly meeting voted on the proposed Constitution changes (view here) with regard in particular to Article 12.7.1
If a vacancy in the office of President shall occur prior to the end of the first year of the vacating President’s two-year term, the Vice President 1 shall immediately become President and shall serve for the remainder of the first year of such term, after which the President-Elect shall immediately become President and shall serve for the balance of the term. If a vacancy in the office of President shall occur from or after the first year of the vacating President’s two -year term, the President-Elect shall immediately become President and serve for the balance of the term.
The change was approved unanimously, and President Elect George Condous (ASUM) is welcomed into his role as President as of immediate effect. Ioan Sporea was thanked for taking on the role of Acting President and for carrying this out with such dedication and aplomb.
WFUMB SURVEY: Endocavity transducers – what methods are being used for reprocessing?
WFUMB is conducting a brief worldwide survey on how ultrasound users clean endocavity transducers. This survey is anonymous and the data collected will assist in future projects on reprocessing methods for ultrasound transducers used for endocavity examinations. The data will also enable WFUMB to target what educational support is needed by ultrasound users in regards to ultrasound transducer reprocessing.
To participate please scan the QR code below
EFSUMB Summer School 2025
EFSUMB is hosting the first EUROSON summer school for students and young residents from 4-6 September 2025 in Berlin.
We are pleased to announce this first EUROSON summer school taking place in September 2025 in Berlin. The preparations are already well ahead, and the program will be available soon. The program is based on two different levels, basic and advanced which will alternate between lectures and hands-on sessions. The hands-on sessions will offer the participants the possibility of practicing their hands-on skills and learn from local and international ultrasound experts in a friendly atmosphere.
It is in the constitution of EFSUMB to promote communication and understanding in the field of ultrasound and in which way to better start than among our future colleagues? We are very pleased to have a students’ committee with many active students interested in ultrasound from across Europe. They have previously been very active in planning the students’ congresses in Timisoara and Riga, which were very successful. This school is the first of its kind within EFSUMB, and is planned in collaboration with our students’ committee, local students and ultrasound experts.
The venue of the school will be the Hotel Aquino in the city center of Berlin with easy access to sights and shopping, yet in a quiet location.
We are looking forward to seeing many active students and young residents for three active days focusing on ultrasound and establishing new European friendships.
View the event website and programme at https://efsumb-studentschool.org/
Looking forward to seeing you.
Trade Links to Education
Recently we have had very productive meetings with our trade partners in order to secure high quality educational material for the WFUMB website. Without the support of the trade it would be very difficult to keep up to date with the latest technology, access cutting edge webinars and run our conferences.
On the WFUMB website there will shortly be links to the various ultrasound related companies and their education offerings divided by categories. Companies that are assisting WFUMB include (in alphabetical order) Cannon, GE Healthcare, Mindray, Pegasus Lectures, Philips, Samsung, Sonoscape and Siemens. We would be delighted to hear from any other companies willing to share education with us.
Look out for the Educational Resources section being released soon!
Report on WFUMB / ISUOG collaboration
The 34th ISUOG World Congress was held in Budapest Hungary from 14 – 18 September. As usual it was a very successful meeting with O&G practitioners from around the world. The trade exhibition was extensive, with multiple trade workshops throughout the meeting.
We met with the acting CEO, Wendy Holloway, as well as the education manager Rob Farag. The ISUOG educational offerings are of the highest quality with multiple online courses via their Ultrasound Essentials and VISUOG. We recommend a visit to their website www.isuog.org WFUMB was particularly interested in sourcing the Basic O&G online training for our Centres of Education as well as access to other educational material that can be linked through the WFUMB website. ISUOG were very forthcoming and our WFUMB team shall be meeting with them again to extend our MOU.
Sue Westerway
Latest WFUMB Webinars and plans for 2025
WFUMB AFSUMB Student Webinar Series: Endoscopic Ultrasound and Recent Advances
The final student webinar in this WFUMB/AFSUMB series concentrating on Endoscopic Ultrasound.
WFUMB COE Timisoara-Romania, Meets WFUMB COE, China
Chaired by Prof. Ioan Sporea & Prof. Ping Liang and with highly acclaimed list of speakers, the webinar was a huge success.
Student Webinars for 2025
The e-learning group have proposed a series of webinars based on ultrasound for low resourced environments that will align with WFUMB's mission. Topics could include OBGYN for general practitioners and rural midwives, ultrasound for dengue fever complications, scanning for rheumatic heart disease, FASH exam (focused assessment with sonography for HIV associated TB). To put these ideas into reality we now need to find suitable presenters who are willing to assist.
We are hoping that ASUM will take over these webinars for 2025 under the supervision of Adrian Goudie.
The 16th Congress of the AFSUMB (AFSUMB 2024)
The 16th Congress of the AFSUMB (AFSUMB 2024) was successfully held under the theme of ‘Shaping the Future with Ultrasound’ at Coex, Seoul, Korea from May 9 (Thu.) to 11 (Sat.), 2024.
The Congress was organized by Professors Jae-Joon Chung (Congress President) and Jeong Yeon Cho (Chair, Local Organizing Committee). During the Congress, 1,657 participants (Korean 1,172, overseas 486) joined the Congress, and136 lecturers (Korean 91, overseas 45) delivered 151 lectures. Among 741 submitted abstracts, 484 were presented orally (129) and by e-poster (355).
Abdominal Ultrasound Course organised by Croatian CoE
Zagreb 5-6 July 2024
The course was oversubscribed and only 120 participants could be accepted to allow sufficient time for hands on with the 8 loaned Ultrasound machines. Industry sponsors numbered 6 which enabled registration fees for specialists as low as 100 euro and for doctors in training 50 euro.
Participants were mainly from Croatia but also Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary. The Faculty was international plus giving opportunity to younger Croatian doctors to present.
Topics covered included basic principles of US, US pathology of abdominal organs, Elastography and steatosis quantification, CEUS and US guided interventions.
Congratulations to organisers for such a successful meeting; Ivica Grgurevic, Boris Brkljacic, Ioan Sporea, Gordana Ivanac, Eugen Divjak, Mislav Barisic-Jaman and France Pastrovic
Book early for the next year's course to avoid disappointment!
38th Annual International Bubble Conference in Chicago
This year’s 38th Annual International Bubble Conference in Chicago brought together the global contrast-enhanced ultrasound community—not just to celebrate decades of innovation, but to push the boundaries of what’s possible for the future of CEUS and diagnostic ultrasound.
The two-day conference, held September 5-6 at the historic Drake Hotel on Chicago’s beautiful lakefront, featured the world's foremost CEUS experts, including clinicians, physiologists, engineers and other scientists across the fields of cardiology, radiology, vascular medicine, gynecology, gastroenterology and other sub-specialties. All sessions were highly interactive, promoting lively discussions in an open, challenging, collegiate atmosphere with the goal of developing more effective diagnostic and therapeutic applications of CEUS to improve patient care, outcomes and experiences globally.
Recorded sessions may be viewed on LiveMedia.com: https://www.livemedia.com/38bubble
Save the date for next year’s International Bubble Conference in Chicago: September 4-5, 2025.
And watch the conference website for more details: www.bubbleconference.com
WFUMB SAFETY TASK FORCE – SEPT 2024 UPDATE
Submitted by J. Brian Fowlkes, PhD, TF Chair
Background: This group was formed under the leadership of the WFUMB Safety Committee to work with other organizations on reaching consensus for safety statements (harmonization) so that there could be unified guidance on the safe use of ultrasound to the benefit of patients worldwide.
Representation: The following experts are included as members of this TF and provide input from the variety of organizations to whom they belong. They act as conduits back to these organizations and in some cases are among the leadership of the organizations to whom they belong. Organizations included in the memberships of the experts include AFSUMB, ASUM, AIUM, BMUS, EFSUMB, IEC, and WFUMB.
Participants: Iwaki Akiyama, Ken Bader, Brian Fowlkes, Gerald Harris, Piero Miloro, Carmel Moran, Gail ter Haar, Prashant Verma, Gillian Whalley, Keith Wear
Current Efforts: Currently this TF is working on the following.
- Harmonization of the safety statement on Recommended TI vs. Time – Discrepancies presently exist between the recommendations among organizations on this critical guidance on how long scanning should be performed at a given thermal index (TI) displayed on ultrasound scanners. The TF has worked to resolve the issues present and has reached consensus in principle on several points. Common language is being developed to allow for a single position that can be ratified by national and international organizations.
- Skull heating – The TF is examining the literature to provide a common basis for resolving issues associated with transcranial ultrasound related to skull heating and its dependence on patient age. This includes both the technical aspects for heating in the skull as well as common language such as definitions of neonatal and pediatric ages to help harmonize related safety statements.
- Ophthalmic imaging – There is concern being expressed about the use of ultrasound for ocular imaging related to the increased use of general purpose ultrasound scanners whose acoustic output is not regulated in the same way as dedicated ophthalmic scanners. Many users are not aware of the relatively low outputs in regulatory guidelines for ophthalmic scanners. At the same time, there are some indications that these recommended or regulatory limits may be restricting diagnostic capabilities in some applications. The TF is examining the current variety of international guidelines and regulations as well as technical issues (e.g. hydrophone spatial averaging) to determine if there is evidence sufficient to address these issues.
- Lung imaging – The use of ultrasound in the examination of the lung has increased dramatically, particularly as a consequence of the recent Covid19 pandemic. There are existing discrepancies in guidance on limiting the mechanical index (MI) for such scanning and the TF is working to determine if internation consensus might be reached.
EUROSON 2024
35th Congress of the European Federation of Ultrasound Societies in Medicine and Biology
Congress Centre “Stazione Marittima”, Naples, 9-11 November
In conjunction with SIUMB Educational Programme, 9-12 November
Running in tandem with EUROSON 2024 ....
EUROSON SCHOOL: From Basic to Advanced Application
NAPLES ITALY NOVEMBER 9|10
ROOM ELETTRA
View the full programme for this Euroson School here >
Organising Secretariat:
Email: euroson2024@siumb.it
Telephone: +39 06 32110740 / +39 06 3218257
Luminary Interview with MICHAEL G KAWOOYA, Kampala WFUMB CoE
Figure 1: Professor Barry B. Goldberg with Prof. Elsie Kiguli and Prof. Michael Kawooya. Photograph taken at the “ Train the Trainers in Ultrasound” course, Thomas Jefferson University. Philadelphia in 2002 . The fellowship was sponsored by the RSNA.
Figure 2: His Excellency the President of Uganda launching ECUREI in August 2002
Figure 3: The occasion of launching the Kampala WFUMB COE on 12th September 2007
I first became involved in ultrasound in 1986, during my residency training at Makerere University-Mulago Hospital. This was upon installation of the first ultrasound machine, the Sonoline SL1. Professor Henry Kasozi, my mentor at that time introduced me to ultrasound. Prof Kasozi had in turn been taught ultrasound at Besancon France by Prof Francis Weil. Later I undertook a fellowship at Tübingen university in 1989-1990 under Prof. Claus.D. Claussen. Following that, I returned to Uganda, and continued improving my ultrasound skills through self-study and attending major world congresses like the RSNA, ECR, MASU and WFUMB.
Figure 4. Prof Kawooya and Prof Odd Helge Gilia at the WFUMB COE refresher course in Kampala 2022- Norway
In 2001, I undertook a short fellowship in ultrasound at Thomas Jefferson University under Prof Barry B Goldberg, sponsored by the RSNA.
The people who influenced me most in my ultrasound career have been Prof Henry Kasozi of Makerere University, Kampala who introduced me to ultrasound. Prof Claus D Clausen of Tübingen University impressed upon me to improve my radiology skills in general but under his oversight, I learned to perform ultrasound independently and to conduct research in ultrasound.
Prof Barry B Goldberg of Thomas Jefferson University probably influenced my carrier the most. Under his supervision, I learnt to systematically conduct a wide range of ultrasound techniques including vascular, musculoskeletal, and interventional ultrasound, in addition to systematic scanning of general abdominal, obstetrical and gynecological ultrasound.
Figure 5: Students who graduated with the Masters in Diagnostic Ultrasound at the Kampala WFUMB-COE (ECUREI).
The highlights in my ultrasound carrier have been the establishment of Ernest Cook Ultrasound and Education Institute (ECUREI), in July 2002, in affiliation with Thomas Jefferson University, The Establishment of the Kampala WFUMB CoE in Uganda in October 2004, the award of Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (FAIUM) in March 2015 and the award of the Honorary Membership of the European Society of Radiology in Vienna-Austria in February 2019.
Ultrasound technology available today has exceeded the expectations I had in my earlier days of ultrasound. There has been tremendous improvement in quality of ultrasound images, attributed compound and tissue harmonic imaging plus higher frequency transducers even exceeding 20 MHz. Other fascinating discoveries include elastography, contrast enhanced ultrasound and of recent micro ultrasound.
Two funny stories happened almost 20 years ago. One morning we switched on our ultrasound machine, only to discover the head of the sector transducer had been eaten by rats. A second time was when a child belonging to one of the radiologists chewed up the head of a transducer mistaking it for an ice-cream cone. We later learnt that ultrasound gel was not only tasty to rodents but also to humans and resolved to clean our transducers completely free of gel and keep them away from rodents and children.
I am still involved in the ultrasound world. I still teach, do routine clinical ultrasound work and undertake research. My current area of curiosity is ultrasound applications for diagnosis and treatment of male urogenital diseases; prostate, vas deferens and scrotum with an example of delivering drugs directly into the prostate for treatment of chronic prostatitis. I continue to teach ultrasound at the Kampala WFUMB CoE where we graduate over 80 ultrasound practitioners yearly with diplomas, Bachelors degrees and Masters degrees in ultrasound.
Upcoming Congresses
