Next week, when I enter the vast city of Chicago McCormick Place Convention Center—at 2.6 million square feet, spread across four enormous buildings, it is the largest convention center in North America, and one of the largest in the world, and certainly one of the busiest—it will be fascinating to see how RSNA24—this year’s version of the RSNA Annual Conference, which remains the world’s largest annual medical conference—will have changed from RSNA23.
He RSNA Conference is sponsored at McCormick Place every year, the week after Thanksgiving, by the Radiological Society of North Americathe global association of professionals related to the medical specialty of radiology, whether as radiologists, radiological technicians, clinic and hospital executives and managers, educators or providers. The Oak Brook, Illinois-based association was established in 1915 (a surprisingly long time for that specialty) and has members representing 150 countries. And, speaking as a multilingual, it is always a pleasure to hear people speak dozens of languages in the exhibition halls and hallways each year at McCormick.
In any case, in the 30+ years that I have attended the RSNA Conference, the conference has changed dramatically in almost every way. Of course, each year there are hundreds of scientific sessions aimed at radiologists and other doctors and radiology support professionals. But the number of sessions related to artificial intelligence has exploded in recent years (many dozens are offered this year), and there are also numerous sessions dedicated to topics such as health policy, health equity, and other non-clinical topics. —something that simply didn’t exist in 1991, the first time I attended the conference.
Meanwhile, the show floor has been completely transformed over the years. Twenty-five years ago, the show floor landscape was a radiologist’s world, with radiology chiefs and practicing radiologists pacing back and forth across the floor looking at the latest CT scans, MRIs and PET-CT scans, and eager salespeople hawking their trendy products. But already in 2000, a radical change had begun, since: A) practically all hospitals and large outpatient clinics already had all the modalities they needed, and the only real market was for replacement equipment or highly specialized machinery; and B) the PACS revolution was already underway in 2000, when film was replaced by digital imaging and attention quickly focused on PACS (picture archiving and communication systems) and RIS (radiology information systems) systems. necessary to operate these complex digital systems. empires. Not long after came the VNA (vendor neutral filing) wave and a broader approach focused on the entire enterprise, whether a single facility or, increasingly, very large multi-hospital health systems, and the need to store and share not only radiological images, but also cardiological, and eventually dermatological, etc., all through coordinated systems.
But the biggest wave that had been brewing for decades, in reality, was the one now coming: the wave of American health care costs. As actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) warned us in June, the total cost of the US healthcare system is on track to explode from its current $4.8 trillion a year (a already mind-boggling sum) to a total estimated at $7.7 trillion a year by 2032, a 60 percent increase in overall U.S. health care costs over the next eight years, driven by an aging population. and one explosion in the incidence of chronic diseases.
And of course, radiologists as a specialty are going to be at the center of this whirlwind, for several reasons. First, with an aging population, the demand for diagnostic imaging studies will skyrocket. Second, the supply of practicing radiologists simply cannot keep pace with that increase in demand, and radiologists, who are already stressed, will be even more so in the coming years. And third, radiologists are in the crosshairs of political leaders and regulators, given the enormous cost of diagnostic imaging in general.
Cue the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). AI/ML will be needed more than ever simply, first and foremost, to help radiologists keep up with the ever-increasing demand for volume production. And second, the reality is that radiologists will increasingly rely on AI-driven technologies to help prioritize the order of interpretation of their studies and, in some cases, to help with diagnosis (although that is a complex discussion in itself).
In any case, the reality is that radiologists and radiology are going to have to adapt like all specialists and medical specialties in the future. And as a result, the RSNA Conference will also continue to evolve. Already last year, the conference offered a record number of sessions that touched on AI in some way; that number will inevitably be even higher this year.
Radiologists are smart and adaptable; and after all, they are the most tech-savvy and friendly medical specialists. So it will be interesting to see what the Zeitgeist is like next week at RSNA24. The world is changing rapidly and the RSNA, radiologists and the specialty of radiology inevitably get caught up in all the changes. Should be a fascinating week ahead.
