Getting to the world’s largest annual radiology meeting, which was just held this past week (as of this writing), was an adventure. An early winter storm dumped between several inches and a foot on the region, which included Chicago, on the Saturday just before the meeting, and there were substantial disruptions. I made it out on the last plane of the day from JFK, which was delayed by several hours, and then took the subway on my arrival to snowed-out Chicago. The incoming editor of the journal Radiology arrived one and a half days late, but at least he was stuck in sunny Florida. Lectures had to be recorded at the last minute as MP4 files and uploaded by those faculty who could not make it on site by Sunday or Monday. Never a dull moment.
Despite the snow, which then continued intermittently for the next few days and was accompanied by rather frigid temperatures, meeting attendance was stable, reportedly around 35,000 registrants. I had the chance to catch up with several former residents, who were excited to be back to learn in person. There is still apparently a demand for CME where it isn’t just streaming on a device, with the learner in a bathrobe, smoking jacket, or less. Cost-effective and easier, yes; more effective for learning, perhaps not. Some of these residents are now full professors in major radiology departments, now teaching their ‘old’ full professor at the annual meeting a thing or two about the state of radiology.
Anticipation was again high regarding the two RSNA’s stuffies of the year. They follow a pattern, honoring the ‘featured’ countries of the year, this time the UAE and France. These were the Arabian camel and the French hen. The former was particularly cute, but not exactly a Labubu, although with similar teeth. The latter surprisingly showed up briefly on the big screen in the Arie Crown Theatre at McCormick Place during the ‘Fast and the Furious Family Feud’ event on Wednesday. I was hoping for a goose liver ‘foie gras’ stuffie, to represent France, annotated with the segments of the liver, but it was not to be.
On Sunday night, I had dinner with my friend, an annual tradition dating back many years. ‘My Dinner with Jeff’ is sort of like ‘My Dinner with Andre,’ but not as intellectually mind-numbing, and without rice falling out of anyone’s mouth. Jeff happens to be the incoming RSNA President. I was honored with the only two hours of downtime he was going to have over the course of the week, accompanied by a friend and former colleague, Dr. Elliott Gozansky. Although what happened at the restaurant stayed at the restaurant, we heard stories from staff about the incredibly famous person who lives part-time at the high-end hotel next door. No, not Oprah. Our lips are sealed.
This year, I participated in the twenty ‘cases of the day,’ which were available on the meeting app starting at midnight each day. Even with the use of my phone’s AI assistant, this open-book multiple-choice quiz is getting incredibly difficult, so I was proud of my 70% accuracy. For each correct choice, you get .25 CME hours, which, over the course of the week, begins to add up to a non-trivial amount.
Another change this year was the venue for the Wednesday RSNA Leadership Reception, which moved downtown to Union Station, which I mistakenly thought was no longer an operational train station until I saw the Amtrak sign on the doors. Pay no attention to the passengers behind the black curtains. A beautiful venue, yes, but no Sue the dinosaur, and the exhibits down the corridors off the main hall at the Field Museum, the former venue for this event over the past decade or so, are not alive. But neither has Teddy Roosevelt.
My book publisher offered one free book per person at the opening of the technical exhibits on Wednesday, to get rid of the display copies, which were not for sale. Although I got there just as the exhibit floor opened to the public, savvy attendees apparently made industry appointments for early access or were industry themselves, or walked even faster than I do, and the books were gone within minutes, including, sadly, my own book, which I could not get my hands on fast enough. I did manage to procure a book on point-of-care ultrasound to see what my colleagues in emergency medicine are actually doing with their new sonography machines.
On Wednesday night, I remembered that to get a prime hotel reservation for next year’s meeting, one must make a reservation before the current meeting has even ended. Yes, including for the hotel I stayed in for the first time in several years for the current meeting, which no longer had actual room service, and which almost certainly won’t have it next year either. I did successfully book it, as the pros of the convenience factor still outweighed the new cons.
On the final day of the meeting, Thursday, I spoke and moderated at an emergency GI radiology session with four speakers, where I was the only male and one of only two radiologists born in the U.S. This is good. And I am always learning and seeing new things, which is a good thing too. At my Tuesday session, my co-speaker from Singapore showed a case of a dried mushroom bezoar obstructing the small bowel. As a strict vegetarian, dangers also apparently lurk in my food chain. Persimmons, hair, medications, yes, they can all cause bezoars, but this? Good thing I rehydrated my dried mushrooms bought in Japan last year prior to ingesting them.
I attended two very honest sessions: one on quality challenges in radiology (and what happens at McCormick also stays there, at least for that one), and the other on the challenges and rewards of being a ‘senior’ radiologist. Superpowers abound, as do the difficulties.
I am already plotting my return to 2026. It’s not until 2027 when the schedule shifts to mid-November on an alternating year basis, thereby reducing the risk of another travel nightmare. But my schedule will likely include reunions with trainees and numerous friends and colleagues; my annual departmental event; the Leadership Reception — hopefully moved to, e.g., the Shedd Aquarium (theme: ‘Finding Roentgen’); no dinner with Jeff (he won’t be free at all); and a hot pot and a hotel fridge stocked with food and drinks, for those late night meals and snacks, without the option of room service.
Douglas Katz, MD, is a radiologist in Mineola, NY. He has no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Image by FTiare / Getty Images
