SIIM Inducts New Fellows and Elects Officers

SIIM Inducts New Fellows and Elects Officers

The Leesburg, Va.-based Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) recently welcomed the newest members of the College of SIIM Fellows. They are James Anthony Seibert, PhD, and Byrn Williamson Jr., MD. The two were introduced by Steven C. Horii, MD, FACR, president of the College of SIIM Fellows, during the Society’s annual business meeting in conjunction with its annual meeting in Charlotte, N.C.

James Anthony Seibert, PhD, has been a faculty member in radiology at the University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, Calif., since January 1983. He has been active in the medical physics community at the local, national, and international levels. Seibert has contributed significant research efforts to the field of radiology for work in digital radiography and digital mammography and has made important contributions to the literature. He has also performed outstanding service as a teacher of radiological physics for radiology residents, radiologists, and medical physics, and is known as a prolific writer and a superb teacher.

Seibert has been directly involved in imaging informatics since the early 1990s at UC Davis, through the practice of diagnostic imaging physics and implementation of digital radiography, a key image acquisition modality for PACS. He has been active in numerous societies in addition to SIIM, including the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, American College of Radiology, Radiological Society of North America, Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers, and the American Board of Radiology.

Seibert has been involved in many SIIM/Society for Computer Applications in Radiology (SCAR) initiatives and programs over the past several years, including the initial participation as a co-chair in the development of joint guidelines by SIIM/SCAR and the American College of Radiology; assisting in the initial organization of efforts to develop standardized methods for digital mammography acquisition, interpretation, and workflow at the SIIM/SCAR annual meeting; and as the chair of the committee for organizing the imaging informatics certification process, ultimately culminating in the development and founding of the American Board of Imaging Informatics, where he is currently a member of the Board of Trustees.

He is a former chair of SIIM/SCAR, having served during the 25th anniversary of the society, and led the transition from SCAR to SIIM and the establishment of the SIIM headquarters. He currently serves as chair of the SIIM Content and Publications Committee, participates on the Program Committee and TRIP(tm) Subcommittee, and has recently been appointed as a trustee of the American Board of Imaging Informatics as a representative for SIIM.

Byrn Williamson Jr., MD, has played a significant role in the growth, importance, and impact of SIIM. He is associate professor of radiology (emeritus) at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn., and, as a practicing radiologist for more than 30 years, he experienced the digital imaging revolution in radiology first-hand.

Williamson first became involved with SIIM/SCAR in 1997 as a member of the organizing committee for the SCAR 1997 meeting hosted by the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. While it was a time of uncertainty for the SCAR meeting, the meeting was quite successful in terms of attendance, quality of presentations, and number of exhibitors, as well as financially.

The experience with SCAR 1997 led Williamson to lead the effort to organize a standing Annual Meeting Program Committee, and he chaired this committee until 2004. During that time, meeting attendance and exhibit booth space increased dramatically. At the same time, the high quality of the meeting led to recognition of SIIM/SCAR as the premier organization with expertise in RIS, PACS, and other electronic imaging applications.

Williamson became chair of SIIM/SCAR in 1998, and began a process to increase individual involvement in society activities. He helped organize the framework in which multiple committees were established to carry out the activities of the society and define duties and appoint members. This effectively broadened participation in the society, with work performed by the committees under the leadership of the board.

Williamson also helped form the SIIM/SCAR grant program and was the founding chair of the subcommittee in 2001. He has been editor of SIIM News since 2003, is current chair of the Finance and Administration Committee, and a participant in numerous other committees.

— Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine



Journal Supplement Provides Clinical Practice Resources

The Society of Interventional Radiology – a Fairfax, Va.-based national organization of physicians, scientists, and allied health professionals dedicated to improving public health through disease management and minimally invasive, image-guided therapeutic interventions – provides a unique collection of new (such as radiation dose management) and previously published clinical practice guidelines developed since 2003 through its Standards Division.

“Society of Interventional Radiology 2009 Standards Division Guidelines” is the subject of a special supplement to the July issue of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (JVIR).

“The supplement includes ‘Guidelines for Patient Radiation Dose Management,’ a significant new document providing guidance on the safe use of fluoroscopy for interventional radiologists performing procedures on adult patients and children. The safe use of fluoroscopy has always been a primary concern for interventional radiologists,” says Michael S. Stecker, MD, FSIR, an interventional radiologist and assistant professor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass.

This radiation management guideline, tailored to interventional radiology practice, emphasizes the need for increased diligence to safely manage the risks of radiation exposure from such procedures as embolization (including chemoembolization for cancer); transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) creation for liver disease; and renal and/or visceral artery angioplasty and/or stent placement.

“The value of medical imaging is great, and the risks of radiation dose are generally negligible compared to the health benefits of having a needed procedure or treatment. However, there are times when a significant radiation dose may need to be administered, and this needs to be properly handled,” says Stecker. Due to the scope of the project, the standardized guidelines were developed over the past two years and are for use both in the United States and internationally, having been created in collaboration with and endorsed by the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe.

“SIR developed the guidelines collection to improve the quality of clinical care and published research relevant to the practice of interventional radiology,” says Albert A. Nemcek Jr., MD, FSIR, editor of JVIR, a peer-reviewed, monthly publication long recognized for its high quality and influence as an academic and professional resource. “Members of SIR’s Standards Division have continued to develop new content as well as to revise older documents as appropriate,” adds Nemcek, an interventional radiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

The 376-page collection, guest-edited by John F. Cardella, MD, FSIR, includes quality improvement guidelines, safety guidelines new from 2003, consensus documents, credentialing statements, policy and position statements, and technology assessment documents.

One new feature added since the 2003 supplement is emerging technologies articles. These state-of-the-art works are written by leaders in emerging topics, such as nanotechnology, genetic therapy, and digital detectors in CT. Also included are position statements, defining not only SIR’s position on a new technique or procedure, but also the societal position on such topics as the role of clinical associates in interventional radiology. There are several such collaborative documents with like-minded societies, adding strength to the collection, Nemcek says.

— Society of Interventional Radiology



UNC Study: Aerobic Activity May Keep the Brain Young

New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine finds that aerobic activity may keep the brain young.

In the study published July 9 in the American Journal of Neuroradiology, physically active elderly people showed healthier cerebral blood vessels. Researchers led by Elizabeth Bullitt, MD, Van L. Weatherspoon Distinguished Professor of neurosurgery, used noninvasive MR angiography to examine the number and shape of blood vessels in the brains of physically active elderly people – seven men and seven women – ages 60 to 80.

The study subjects were equally divided into two groups. The high-activity group reported participating in an aerobic activity for a minimum of 180 minutes per week for the past 10 consecutive years, and the low-activity group told investigators they had no history of regular exercise and currently spent less than 90 minutes a week in any physical activity. The researchers did not know into which group participants were placed.

This is the first study to compare brain images of elderly subjects who exercise with those that do not. Aerobically active subjects exhibited more small-diameter vessels with less tortuosity, or twisting, than the less active group, exhibiting a vessel pattern similar to younger adults. The authors, who were sponsored in part by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, identified significant differences in the left and right middle cerebral artery regions confirmed by more than one statistical analysis.

The brain’s blood vessels naturally narrow and become more tortuous with advancing age, but the study showed the cerebrovascular patterns of active patients appeared “younger” than those of relatively inactive subjects. The brains of these less active patients had increased tortuosity produced by vessel elongation and wider expansion curves.

The pilot study lays the foundation for future research to determine whether aerobic activity improves anatomy, if older patients with “younger” brains are more likely to engage in physical activity, and whether elderly adults who begin a program of aerobic activity can reverse the cerebrovascular, anatomic and functional changes associated with advancing age.

— University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill