The new frontier of medical radiology is called radiomics and, thanks to the use of artificial intelligence (Ai), it interprets the digital numerical data acquired during the CT scan or MRI allowing for earlier and more precise diagnoses for better use of therapies. “A quantum leap, a real revolution that has taken place in the last few years, which allows us to provide the oncologist, the pathologist and the surgeon with the characteristics of the lesion and the evolution it may have: fundamental data on how to operate and treat the patient “. This was said by Andrea Giovagnoni, president of Sirm (Italian Society of Medical and Interventional Radiology), today in Milan during a meeting with the press organized by the scientific society.
“It is a technique that exploits machine learning and AI systems – explains the specialist – to try to highlight new markers not from images, but from numbers. In other words, we evaluate how the numerical values present within of the images are spatially distributed within the tissue studied”. Also defined as “texture analysis”, it is “now fundamental, especially in the oncology field. Every year, 395 thousand people are diagnosed with cancer, a growing number, as in all Western countries – underlines Giovagnoni – For many tumors, advances in therapies are leading to significant survival, but it is essential to understand what type of disease it is in the shortest possible time and if, and how, the tumor will respond to treatments. The objective of radiomics is precisely this: guarantee the patient the best, earliest and most effective intervention to also safeguard his quality of life”.
Medical radiology is particularly “affected” by the development “of AI and the tumultuous technological progress – states Alfonso Marchianò, president of the Scientific Committee of the 51st Sirm National Congress – but also” by the “greater awareness of the fundamental role that this medical figure plays in modern diagnostic and therapeutic processes of the majority of patients, not only those affected by cancer, but also by other pathologies such as cardiovascular, inflammatory and degenerative ones”.
As the general secretary of the 51st Sirm National Congress, Massimo Venturini, recalls, “every year in Italy 70 million diagnostic imaging procedures are performed. We can count on more accurate images, acquired more quickly, linked to a risk of secondary effects from radiation practically null, but which, precisely because of the great complexity and technological sophistication with which they are produced, must always be managed and interpreted by the radiologist specialist”.
The profession of radiologist has changed profoundly over the last 15 years, Sirm highlights. Radiology has radically changed its appearance, evolving from a discipline considered by many to be ‘second class’, compared to the great classical branches of medicine, to the most modern and technologically advanced. The radiologist, adapting to rapid technological innovation, today finds his strong identity by placing himself at the center of the decision-making processes of the multidisciplinary teams of modern medicine. In this growth, our country has been decisive. “The most cited scientific studies in the world in the radiological field are Italian – underlines Gianpaolo Carrafiello, president of the 51st Sirm National Congress – and our corporate magazine ‘Medical Radiology’ is a scientific point of reference at a global level”.
There are over 10 thousand Italian medical radiologists registered with Sirm, a scientific society that is very attentive to training, especially of young people, and which will hold its 51st national Congress in Milan from 20 to 23 June which will also coincide with the first joint Congress of scientific societies of the radiological area which includes radiologists, nuclear medicine doctors and radiotherapists. “The idea of bringing together the 3 scientific societies – concludes Giovagnoni – was a challenge and a need dictated by the transversality of our increasingly central discipline between medical branches and at the heart of the diagnosis and patient care path”.
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