International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Background

In 2016, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will hold the International Conference on Integrated Medical Imaging in Cardiovascular Diseases (IMIC 2016), building on the success of the IMIC 2013 conference. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are steadily increasing both in developed and developing countries. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are an important subgroup of NCDs and account for the highest proportional mortality among all NCDs. Consequently, CVDs are one of the main priorities in the health care systems of many IAEA Member States. Identifying appropriate management strategies is of the utmost importance, as it was estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) that more than 23 million people will die annually due to CVDs by 2030. The situation is particularly alarming in low and middle income countries, as 80% of the mortality burden is borne by such countries. Medical imaging, including molecular nuclear medicine, is extremely important in that it offers strategic advantages in both diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making. It provides invaluable inputs for different stages of CVD management, including diagnosis, staging, treatment, prognosis and follow-up. Medical imaging includes techniques such as single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography (PET), echocardiography, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These techniques represent very useful tools to understand the pathology of individual patients in detail and can therefore serve to facilitate specifically tailored clinical management. Each imaging modality has its advantages and limitations which need to be understood properly by health care professionals dealing with CVDs. Given their high usefulness, integrating these techniques into the health care systems of Member States can provide an invaluable contribution to improving CVD management. Many Member States are already actively using, have recently implemented or are planning to acquire the relevant medical imaging techniques.

Capacity building is at the core of IAEA activities, with the ultimate goal in the area of human health being to strengthen the human and technical expertise of Member States to address health challenges in a sustainable and self-resilient manner. The IAEA has been applying many approaches for capacity building in Member States to allow them to optimally utilize medical imaging technologies. These approaches include training courses, fellowships, expert missions and conferences, to name a few. IMIC 2013 was organized to improve the understanding of nuclear medicine imaging in the management of CVDs. It was held at the IAEA's Headquarters in Vienna, Austria, and was extremely well received by Member States. Two hundred and forty participants from all over the world, including from 70 Member States and 12 invited organizations, benefited from this conference. In order to follow up on the most recent advances in the use of medical imaging in the management of CVDs and to support professional development for the purpose of strengthening the capacities of Member States, it is proposed to hold IMIC 2016.

Objectives

The conference will follow up on the recent developments in the entire spectrum of activities related to medical imaging as applied to CVDs.
The conference will have the following objectives:

• To evaluate the current status of medical imaging, including SPECT, PET, echocardiography, CT and MRI, in the management of CVDs;
• To reflect on challenges faced in developing countries;
• To deliver supporting 'know-how' via continuing medical education programmes in the field, including information on the relative merits and limitations of each imaging modality;
• To improve the performance of clinical practice through 'read with the experts' sessions and workshops;
• To interact with the user groups (nuclear medicine physicians, radiologists, cardiologists, technologists, radiographers, radiopharmacists, radiochemists, medical physicists and other practitioners and scientists working in all aspects of CVD management) and provide them with state-of-the-art information on this field;
• To exchange information on current advances in the field among leading clinical scientists from developed and developing countries; and
• To identify future challenges and trends, as well as the role of the IAEA and other international organizations in addressing these.

• The IAEA invites participants to provide high quality contributions on all aspects of medical imaging as applied to the management of CVDs. Both academic and practice based papers under the umbrella of the following topics are welcome:
• Member State experience with SPECT, PET, echocardiography, CT and MRI in the management of CVDs
• Use of hybrid imaging or integrated imaging in CVD management
• Setting up an integrated imaging facility
• Radiopharmaceutical production using cyclotrons and radionuclide generators — including good manufacturing practices and quality assurance aspects — with special reference to imaging agents for CVDs
• Issues of medical physics, instrumentation and image processing and analysis related to CVD imaging
• Quality management, quality control, quality assurance and audits in integrated medical imaging and nuclear medicine practice
• Radiation protection for personnel and dose reduction for patients
• Ethics, leadership and education in integrated medical imaging

• This conference will give an opportunity to review the exciting latest developments in the field of integrated medical imaging as applied to CVDs. The target audience comprises:
• Nuclear medicine physicians
• Radiologists
• Cardiologists
• Radiochemists/Radiopharmacists
• Medical physicists
• Technologists/Radiographers
• Other practitioners and scientists working in all aspects of medical imaging

• The conference will provide clinicians, scientists and professionals with an international forum at which they can review the latest developments in all aspects of integrated medical imaging as applied to CVDs, with a view to addressing the health challenges common to many IAEA Member States.

• be a maximum of 500 words (including title);
• not include more than one figure, graph or table;
• not include references; and
• must be written and submitted using the abstract template available from the conference web page (see Section P).

• Participation Form (Form A); and
• Form for Submission of a Paper (Form B).

• A limited amount of space will be available for commercial vendors' displays/exhibits during the conference. Interested parties should contact the Conference Secretariat by email (imic2016@iaea.org) by 31 March 2016.

• The working language of the conference will be English. All communications and papers must be sent to the IAEA in English.