Attendees participated in the Society for Medical Innovation and Technology (SMIT) 2008 Conference recently amid a Viennese campus of century-old trees, a 17th century university, and a new hospital facility. At the SMIT Conference, however, the program centered not on the old, but on innovation, specifically in image-guided interventional oncology, presented by an international forum.

The meeting proposed to link researchers in minimally invasive therapy with medical device companies and clinicians to address developments in areas of specialization. Abstracts submitted for peer review required a focus on innovative tools or medical methods. The conference also covered the development of medical instrumentation, engineering and rapid prototyping.

Sessions included discussion of:

* Tumor Ablation and Interventional Oncology
* Endoluminal Surgery NOTES and NOSCAR
* Surgical Manipulators and Image-guided Robotics
* Hybrid OR, Work Flow and Systems Integration
* Nanotechnology and Microsystems in Medicine
* New Instruments and New Materials
* Rapid Prototyping in Medicine
* E-Health
* MRI Safety
* Navigation and Augmented Reality
* Molecular Imaging and Targeted Drug Delivery
* Model based Therapy, Numerical Simulation and Training

Plenary speakers were internationally recognized leaders: Dr. Ferenc A. Jolesz, MRI and image-guided therapy; Dr. Moshe Y. Flugelman, interventional cardiology; and Professor Daniel A. Rufenacht, neuroradiology.

The SMIT 2009 Conference is planned for October 7-9 in Romania.

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