Last week the radiology world converged on McCormick Place in Chicago for the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). As one might have expected, AI was a dominant topic. There was even an entire exhibit hall dedicated to it.

And yet, in many ways, the human aspect of radiology was even more prominent.

It felt almost as if, after all these years of asking rhetorical questions about computers replacing humans, the industry is finally getting comfortable with the concept of AI and can consider it in nuanced, practical terms. This, the editorial team at HealthCare Business News agrees, is good news for everyone.

AI marketplaces and workflow integration
From Philips' work-in-progress IntelliSpace AI Workflow Suite to IBM's Imaging AI Marketplace, it felt like every big company debuted an AI "App Store" or platform to integrate curated AI algorithms into the radiology workflow.

Whereas last year's show might have featured the release of an AI solution for flagging critical diagnoses, this year the talk was all about how to make the use of machine learning seamless for radiologists.

“The key to the game is going to be really translating that directly into the clinical workflow, finding ways to be able to really put that in, so that it’s not just something that’s adjacent or added, so customers don’t have to contract with a million different vendors,” Kevin Lev, the AI solutions marketing lead at Philips, told HCB News during an interview.

Overcoming bias and encouraging diversity
Bias in radiology is no longer just a challenge in the workplace, it's also being exposed in the data sets that are intended to help automate decision-making.

In a session on the ethical challenges of AI, Judy Gichoya, assistant professor of IR Informatics at Emory University School of medicine, spoke about the recent news that racial bias was embedded in a widely-used commercial risk algorithm used to manage population health.

There were also multiple sessions about bias in recruitment and hiring of female radiologists and physicians of color.

During one session on diversity and inclusion in radiology, it was noted that about 50 percent of medical school graduates are women, but only 27 percent become radiology residents, and only 15 percent of medical school graduates who identify as underrepresented minorities pursue careers in radiation oncology and diagnostic radiology.

“Those things can take a long time to really dissipate, and sometimes never,” said Dr. Carolyn Meltzer, chair of radiology and imaging sciences and executive associate dean of faculty academic advancement, leadership and inclusion at Emory University School of Medicine, during a session titled "Unconscious Bias: Does Radiology Have a Blind Spot?" “But being aware of them is important when we make decisions.”

Addressing burnout
Physician burnout was another widely-discussed topic at RSNA, with at least 10 education sessions devoted to quality of life in the workplace.

Experts encouraged wellness and mentoring programs and team-building exercises, and forming committees devoted to ensuring work/life balance.

The conference also featured a Wellness Lounge that offered yoga sessions, and there was chair yoga offered at the end of the day in the Discovery Theater.

Bringing imaging to the bedside
While the biggest news in radiology has been on the software side for a few years now, there was a notable uptick in compact portable hardware for bringing diagnostics to patients who cannot be transferred to the imaging department.

One of the biggest crowd pleasers at the show was Hyperfine, which performed MR scans (of fruit) on site. It was the first time ever that MR scans had been performed at an RSNA meeting.

The system requires no shielding and its safety zone on the show floor merely consisted of four stanchions surrounding the bore of the scanner.

Siemens Healthineers also made waves with the debut of SOMATOM On.site, a mobile head CT scanner that can be used on critically ill patients in the ICU. And along the same lines, Agfa debuted its new mobile X-ray system, the DR 100s.

Radiology is expanding into new areas
Whether it's evaluating new health hazards or making inroads against dementia, research highlighted at this year's meeting illustrated the growing importance of radiology in a changing society.

A pathologist and laboratory expert on a panel that discussed lung injury related to vaping, told HCB News that radiologists have an essential role in identifying vaping illness. Since many of the heaviest e-cigarette users are underage teens and young adults not yet emancipated from their parents, there have been cases of such patients trying to hide their vaping habit even after they fall ill. At RSNA the message was clear: radiologists need to ask directed questions about e-cigarette use, just as they would about tobacco.

Another team of researchers discussed the potential for low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) to play a critical role in treating Alzheimer's disease. The team combined LIFU with MR to open the blood-brain barrier on three patients; a hurdle in the way of providing treatment to the disease. MR contrast follow-up found the blood-brain barrier remained open for about 24 hours after the procedure before healing.

Simplifying digital breast tomosynthesis reading
While digital breast tomosynthesis (3D mammography) can provide a wealth of diagnostic information unavailable in a 2D mammogram, the scans can yield an overwhelming amount of data. This year at RSNA there were several companies offering software solutions to simplify the reading process.

ScreenPoint medical debuted Transpara 1.6, which ranks mammograms on a 10-point scale indicating the short term risk that cancer is present. The system is CE Marked for use with 2D and 3D mammography from multiple vendors, and is installed at leading breast imaging centers in Europe. Currently, it is FDA-cleared for 2D mammography in the U.S. and is pending clearance for 3D exams.

Hologic introduced its FDA-cleared, AI-powered 3DQuorum technology, which reduces tomosynthesis image volume for radiologists by two thirds, saving an average of one hour per eight hours of daily image interpretation time, according to the company.

A changing demographic?
Just as telemedicine and teleradiology are bringing diagnostics out of the hospital setting, RSNA's Virtual Meeting could be a game-changer for radiologists who attend RSNA strictly to catch up on the latest research.

One member of the HealthCare Business News team stayed home to report on RSNA educational sessions remotely through the computer. It was a perfectly seamless experience. Could that mean lower on-site attendance in the coming years? Could the on-site demographics shift more toward radiology stakeholders who are there to do business?

This year RSNA had a new exhibit hall dedicated entirely to AI companies. The room had less foot traffic than the main halls, but the ratio of people in that hall engaging with companies seemed significantly higher. Perhaps the Virtual Meeting will have a similar impact on attendance as a whole. We will have to wait and see.