Vienna, March 12, 2018 (ECR) – The European Congress of Radiology (ECR) closed a week ago with an impressive growth in attendance, especially noteworthy as it has been the opposite for many big medical meetings lately. The organisers, the European Society of Radiology (ESR), are proud to announce a total onsite participation of 22,059, including a record number of 13,848 professional delegates, which represents an 8% increase compared to ECR 2017, and a total of 8,211 industry participants. In addition, the ECR Online streaming platform counted 6,415 registered viewers that were not present onsite, which marks an increase of 13% compared to last year. This accumulates to the record breaking overall attendance of 28,474.

On top of this, a 10-11% increase in room attendance figures could be seen throughout all days of the congress, with delegates attending sessions a total of 81,621 times.

ECR 2018 was characterised by the introduction of new session formats, new locations, scientific highlights and a booming technical exhibition with more than 300 companies showcasing their latest products.

The new My Thesis in 3 Minutes (MyT3) sessions, where residents and young radiologists presented their thesis' in just three minutes, as well as the Coffee & Talk sessions that offered an open forum for discussion, took off very well and presenters saw themselves facing full rooms throughout each day. Innovating session formats and presenting education and scientific content in the most creative and informative way possible has been one of the ECR's trademarks for years.

Returning attendees to the ECR will have noticed that the event keeps getting bigger every year. To account for this ongoing development, the ESR decided to take advantage of the area immediately surrounding the main congress building (the Austria Center Vienna), which boasts incredible infrastructure and numerous locations perfectly suited to hosting the diverse range of congress activities. In addition to the Austria Center and the adjacent M-Building, rented from the United Nations, congress attendees were introduced to two new locations, namely the 'Sky High Stage' (Wolke 21) on top of the Saturn Tower and 'the Cube' located in the nearby Donaucity church, with all buildings together creating one big 'ECR City'. Also new this year was the 'Swiss Village' in front of the main congress building, where participants braved the cold while enjoying various Swiss delicacies and matching each other at games of ice stock sports.

The Cube, a series of dedicated workshops, was the biggest interventional radiology (IR) event ever to take place at ECR. Over the course of four days, the Cube offered interactive presentations, challenges and quizzes led by international experts in the field of interventional radiology. Thanks to the support of more than 25 industry partners, an unprecedented number of IR simulators and devices were available, giving participants the opportunity to experience a wide range of IR procedures. A total of 480 places were offered at the inaugural Cube, which was at full capacity each day. Due to this enormous demand and extremely positive feedback from both, participants and exhibiting companies, an even bigger IR event can be expected at ECR 2019.

Among the scientific highlights, the topic of artificial intelligence stood out and all presenting experts agreed that this will, in one way or another, shape the future of radiology and patient care.

"This congress and the feedback from our participants have proven to us that the current topics of interest are artificial intelligence, big data and radiomics, as well as the challenges that come with those developments. These are exciting issues that we will definitely have to face in the near future, the first step to which is through the recognition of the potential they have for us. I made it my mission at this congress to convince everyone that we need not fear these new developments as threats and that radiologists will always have a pivotal role in both diagnostic and interventional therapeutic patient management. Always keep in mind that innovation means advancement. I would like to extend my thanks to everyone, especially all our attendees, for making this year's ECR a big success," said ESR President Professor Bernd Hamm from the Charité in Berlin, now Chair of the ESR Board of Directors.

The next European Congress of Radiology, ECR 2019, will take place February 27 to March 3, 2019, in Vienna, under the aegis of ESR President Professor Lorenzo Derchi from Genoa/IT.