ESUR 2008 - Exclusive interview with Dr. Ullrich Mueller-Lisse, a Leading Expert Radiologist in Urogenital Radiology and Organizer of the European Society of Urogenital Radiology

Earlier this month, at the European Society of Urogenital Radiology Annual Meeting of 2008, some 270 radiologists from 33 countries gathered in Munich, Germany, to discuss recent advancements in urogenital radiology research and their implementation into daily clinical routine. radRounds brings to you extensive coverage of this exciting event, starting with an interview with Dr. Ullrich Mueller-Lisse, the “man behind the ESUR 2008 meeting”. Dr. Ullrich Mueller-Lisse is a senior attending radiologist at the Univesity of Munich Department of Radiology. His work in Munich is well known to the radiological research community for his major contribution to new developments in the imaging of the urogenital tract. Moreover, Dr. Mueller-Lisse is also strongly involved in radiology education at the University of Munich, which is ranking first in Germany. This year, Dr.Mueller-Lisse is head of the local organizing committee of ESUR meeting 2008, which took place in Munich last week. radRounds had the chance to speak with Dr. Mueller-Lisse at the end of the meeting and to hear his impression of the event. Jana Ivanidze: What were the main aims of this year’s ESUR meeting? Would you say that they have been reached? Ullrich Mueller-Lisse: Several goals were important to us. The first and major goal for the European Society of Urogenital Radiology was to gather as many members as possible to exchange current and upcoming developments in radiological research, to revise protocols and to get ideas of how these can be applied to clinical problems. This meeting is meant to be a gathering point for both distinguished experts and young radiologists from all over Europe and beyond. Did we complete our mission? So far, yes. We had 33 nations attending the meeting and there were 270 registered participants. Participating countries range from Norway in the North to Australia in the South, from South Korea in the East to the USA in the West. JI: What were your personal highlights of the ESUR 2008 meeting? UML: as a member of the society, my personal highlight always is the members’ dinner. You get the chance to meet old and new friends, and discuss cutting edge radiological research on a very personal note. It’s somewhat like a family reunion. In my position as the organizer of this meeting, my personal highlight was to finally have brought together all these people. JI: What were the most interesting advancements presented? UML: That is hard to say, I feel would not be fair to pick out a highlight. When we look at the cutting edge achievements in Molecular imaging, I inevitably think of Nicolas Grenier (University of Grenoble). On the other side there are the clinical advancements the data just presented to us on guidelines in female pelvic imaging by Karen Kinkel and others. The original research these data are based on dates back as early as 10 years ago. Nevertheless, many departments across Europe still have not adapted to these standards. This was our aim: to define standards and to communicate those to the members so that they can carry them into their communities. The guidelines we have agreed on in a panel of experts will be published on the website of the ESUR. JI: How important would you estimate the role of the non-radiologist clinicians attending the meeting? UML: They have a very important role. In fact we have seen to it that in almost every session, a clinician would be speaking from the panel or even moderating the discussion. We wanted to not only focus on our guidelines themselves but particularly on their actual impact for the clinical practice. Ideally, radiologists should be invited to the clinical meetings to the same extent. Radiology is advancing at a very rapid rate these days, but the implementation of these advancements into daily routine can take a long time. JI: That is an interesting point. You yourself are strongly involved in both research and daily clinical work here at the University of Munich. What would you say, how much of what is being discussed here is being implemented in your daily work? For instance, techniques like MR lymphography presented by Dr. Jelle Barentsz from the Netherlands? UML: This is indeed a promising technique. Unfortunately, the problem with MR lymphography is that the only country in Europe where the contrast agent for this technique has been approved are the Netherlands. It is very important to encourage further research in this area and to overcome the difficulties we are currently facing in this respect. It was with great interest that we listened to Dr. Barentsz outline of his current results at this ESUR meeting. JI: How can , in your opinion, an online radiology platform such as radRounds enrich the worldwide radiological community? UML: I feel radRounds can be very helpful in providing general information, and, most importantly, the links to primary sources such as the ESUR guidelines. JI: Another aim of rR is to give it’s members unlimited space to upload and discuss their cases. You can post a particularly difficult case of yours and a colleague from India, for instance, will be able to post his opinion. UML: You thus create an international expert panel. This is excellent. I am very interested to see where rR goes and wish you the best of luck.

PS. Dr. Ullrich Mueller-Lisse is a new member of radRounds too! This interview has been brought to you by our very own,
Jana Ivanidze, writer and also one of the editors of radRounds.