CIRSE 2024: Take a look back at the IR meeting of the year!

September 25, 2024

CIRSE 2024 took place from September 14-18 in Lisbon.

As always, we are amazed and grateful for the commitment and enthusiasm of our faculty members, attendees, industry partners, and staff who together make up the incredible CIRSE family. The excitement over this year’s meeting did not wane over the days; spirits were high; outlooks were optimistic; old connections were strengthened and new ones forged. We extend our deepest thanks to our community for this record-breaking meeting – we could not have done it without you!

Interventional radiology: from ablation to z-stent

Featuring more than 250 scientific sessions, 510 faculty members, 876 scientific paper and poster presenters, multitudes of hands-on learning opportunities, a top-notch industry exhibition, interactive activities, collaborative sessions, and networking, this event brought together thousands of interventionists and physicians from neighbouring specialties from all over the globe for the IR meeting of the year.

CIRSE 2024 covered the entire spectrum of interventional radiology topics, from well-established therapies to the latest hot topics. The programme featured a variety of session types suited to IRs at all stages of their careers. From light-hearted sessions such as the film interpretation quiz to more hard-hitting discussions at expert round tables and hot topic symposia, to cutting-edge research presented at the FIRST@CIRSE sessions, the congress offered something for everyone.

Lectures from CIRSE 2024 are now available to watch on demand via the congress platform! Use the filters on the left of the page to find the topics and presentation types that are most relevant to you.

CIRSE’s vision: The next chapter

CIRSE President Prof. Christoph Binkert opened the meeting during the Opening and Awards Ceremony by reminding the assembled attendees of his words last year, when he first presented CIRSE’s vision for the future of IR to the wider CIRSE audience.

The vision consists of three points: A focus on clinical services and patient care, a focus on therapies and treatment, and a focus on training and excellence in IR. The focus of Prof. Binkert’s presidency centred on the first point, clinical services and patient care.

“Many of you in every country and every hospital have a vision.” He stated. “But always the question remains: what happened with the vision? I’d like to tell you what happened.” And he did –

During Prof. Binkert’s tenure, the CIRSE Clincial Practice Task Force was established; a CIRSE member survey on clinical practice was sent (with results presented during the meeting); levels of clinical infrastructure were defined; educational materials such as CIRSE Academy courses and webinars on clinical practice were published; a clinical service slide deck was created; and a social media campaign focusing on clinical IR every Tuesday was established. An IR leadership meeting of national IR societies was established and will be repeated. Additionally, every day at CIRSE 2024 featured at least one session on clinical care.

Prof. Christoph Binkert passed the torch of the presidency on to Prof. Philippe Pereira during the 2024 General Assembly. Prof. Pereira will lead the march forward onto the next step: therapies and treatment.

The new CIRSE Executive Board

Awards and honours

The CIRSE 2024 awards were conferred at the Opening and Awards Ceremony on the first afternoon of the congress.

This year, the Gold Medal went to Prof. Francisco C. Carnevale, who has previously also won the Award of Excellence and Innovation in IR, for his pioneering contributions to the world of interventional radiology via his work in developing PAE.

Prof. Patrick Haage, Prof. Lars Lönn, and Prof. Dimitrios Tsetis† were honoured as distinguished fellows in recognition of their exceptional contributions to the practice and science of interventional radiology.

The Award of Excellence and Innovation In IR went to Prof. Reto Bale for his work on stereotactic thermal ablation including image fusion for ablation validation.

The CVIR Editors Medal was awarded to Michel Bosiers et al. for their paper ZILVERPASS Study: ZILVER PTX Stent versus Prosthetic Above-the-Knee Bypass Surgery in Femoropopliteal Lesions, 5-year Results.

The EBIR Certificate of Distinction was awarded to the top-scoring candidates of the past two exams. Dr. Javier Periáñez Vázquez,  Dr. Tze Yang Vincent Tiong, Dr. Matthew Clifford, and Dr. Gh Mohammad Wani from the October 2023 exam, and Dr. Mark Paxton and Dr. Shyamal Patel for the March 2024 exam.

This year’s Magna Cum Laude Poster Award went to Dr. Shinichi Hori for his poster “Transarterial treatment of locally advanced breast cancer in de novo setting.”

Prof. Carnevale 

Prof. Bale

Dr. Deloose accepting on behalf of Dr. Bosiers

IDEAS 2024

IDEAS, the Interdisciplinary Endovascular Aortic Symposium, was held once again this year to promote multidisciplinary collaboration between IR and other physicians working in aortic treatment. Featuring case-based discussions, video learning sessions, and expert round tables, content from IDEAS 2024 is now available to watch on demand.

The Radiation Protection Pavilion

The 2024 RPP took place under the slogan “Moving from radiation protection to safety culture” and offered tailored information and services to interventional professionals for safe day-to-day practice.

Including talks from world-leading experts and showcasing the latest in protective technologies, this edition of the RPP focused on a different topic each day, and included the first RPP day dedicated to women in IR and the first RPP M&M session.

This year’s radiation protection talks are ready to watch on demand on the CIRSE 2024 platform.

Hands-on training

CIRSE 2024 featured dozens of opportunities to gain hands-on experience with the latest tools and devices.

The hands-on device training (HDT) sessions provided an overview of the various devices available for a specific procedure while at the same time providing hands-on experience to participants. Back for a third year, an IDEAS practical course series covered a wide array of aortic topics and provided participants with the opportunity to experience a more hands-on learning approach. Safe sedation workshops gave attendees the opportunity to perform procedural sedation (PSA) in a simulated environment under expert guidance. The simulation training sessions let delegates follow demonstrations of interventional techniques and practice certain procedures under the guidance of an expert instructor and/or simulator technician. After the success of their debut last year, GI-Lab sessions were again held to familiarize attendees with the devices used for common GI procedures.

The Honorary Lectures

This year’s Andreas Gruentzig lecture was given by Prof. Klaus Hausegger. After a laudation from Prof. Elias Brountzos, Prof. Hausegger gave a talk entitled “How to manage complications.”

He spoke about the victims that complications create – first the patient, then the patient’s family, the medical practitioner, and ultimately the medical system itself. He emphasized that physical complications can have a psychological impact on everyone involved, and that clear and honest communication is essential in the management of complications.

Prof. Andreas Adam gave the laudation for Prof. Bien Soo Tan, who gave this year’s Josef Roesch Lecture, titled “Crisis is opportunity: lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The phrase “crisis is opportunity” comes from a well-known ancient Chinese proverb which reminds us that opportunities abound during a crisis. Prof. Tan asked the question: what lessons could IR learn from the pandemic? He spoke on Singapore’s experience fighting the SARS pandemic and how their experiences helped them be better prepared than any other country during the COVID-19 pandemic. He implored that, while individual societies try their best, there is no single entity which coordinates and plans for the global needs of IR, and pointed to the importance of such meetings as the Global Sumit in helping IR develop further. “I think our community can set an example in global cooperation.”

Prof. Hausegger

Prof. Tan

Onsite at CIRSE 2024

While online participants had access to most lectures, the myriads of activities onsite added additional educational opportunities and an exciting component to the live event in Lisbon.

Many of CIRSE’s initiatives were represented with a booth and held interactive events throughout the programme. A very entertaining general knowledge quiz on CIRSE’s initiatives held on the first evening of the congress, hosted by Online Education Committee Chairperson Dimitrios Filippiadis, offered prizes such as a 2025 All Access Pass, free congress registration, and CIRSE 2024 farewell party tickets.

Other quizzes and receptions happened throughout the congress, from the CVIR challenge to IASIOS and CIRSE Academy quizzes, a CIRSE journals awards ceremony, and an IASIOS reception.  The EBIR team was also onsite with copies of all CIRSE curricula and hosted multilingual Q&A sessions with successful EBIR candidates where attendees could ask their questions about how to prepare for the exam.

Women in IR were in the spotlight this year, with a session, a reception, and – for the first time – a dedicated workshop. Stay tuned for more on women in IR in an upcoming CIRSE Insider article!

The ESIR team held several ablation workshops, two on breast and thyroid ablation, and two focusing on thyroid tumour ablation.

The European Trainee Forum’s programme provided a recommended pathway through the congress for IRs at the start of their careers as well as many networking opportunities and short talks. A record number of trainees took part in the IR trainee support programme this year, which lets trainees who submit an abstract as a first or presenting author attend the congress free of charge.

The Student Programme – be inspIRed – attracted a record number of participants this year, with more than 300 medical students in attendance promising an ever-brighter future for IR.

See you next time!

The Scientific Programme Committee is already hard at work preparing the programme for CIRSE 2025. Mark your calendars – CIRSE 2025 will take place in Barcelona, Spain, from September 13-17!