Medical industry professionals will gather for the 22nd International Conference of the Society for Medical Innovation and Technology (SMIT), held in Norway from Sept. 2 until Sept. 4.

This year, organizers expect about 300 attendees and 20 vendors, said Toril Hernes, the organization’s co-president, in an e-mail to DOTmed News.

The conference will cover a wide range of topics, including image guidance and therapy monitoring, ultrasound imaging, simulation and training, minimally invasive therapy, medical imaging, nanotechnology and nanomedicine, and robotics and sensors, to name a few.

The focus, however, will be on medical imaging and minimally invasive surgery and therapy, said Hernes, research in which Norway is an international leader.

To complement these topics, SMIT welcomes several keynote speakers, from all over the world to discuss timely issues.

Kevin Cleary of Georgetown University Medical Center will discuss image-guided therapy, while Vidar Hepso will tackle imaging and navigation in the oil industry.

Erik Fosse of Norway will talk about the timely topic of surgical aid in areas of armed conflict, and Brynjulf Ystgaard, a conference president, will be featured in a talk entitled “Under the volcano: disaster preparedness.”

And Richard Satava of the University of Washington Medical Center will discuss the future of medical innovation — a conference theme.

Attendees to the international program include endoscopic surgeons, interventional radiologists, researchers in medical technology and industrial manufacturers.

For those eager to make the most out of this year’s conference, there will be a pre-conference educational training course on 3-D ultrasound and neuronavigation, arranged by the National Centre of 3-D Ultrasound in Neurosurgery St. Olavs Hospital, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and SINTEF, in collaboration with Marie Curie Initial Training Networks.

The two-day course, held Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, will give participants an introduction on how to navigate surgical instruments and perform resection guidance and control using 2-D and 3-D ultrasound integrated with neuronavigation.

Special topics of the program include basic principles of neuronavigation and ultrasound imaging, 3-D ultrasound acquisition, image-guided resection based on 3-D ultrasound, in addition to hands-on training.

The conference will be held at Oya Helsehus in Trondheim, Norway.

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