RSNA attendance falls only 5%

The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) has released the unaudited attendance numbers for its annual meeting last week in Chicago, revealing that, despite a slight dip, the economic downturn did not have the expected negative impact on turnout.

Overall, attendance slipped by 5 percent, from 61,980 attendees in 2007 to 58,795 this year.

Interestingly, in spite of expanding to a third technical exhibit hall in the Lakeside Learning Center, the exhibitor attendance saw the greatest dip from last year with a 12 percent downturn—to 24,683 this year, compared with 28,054 in 2007.

Meanwhile, professional attendee attendance remained relatively stable with only a 1 percent drop, and guest attendance increased 7 percent, according to the RSNA.

Around the web

RBMA President Peter Moffatt discusses some of the biggest obstacles facing the specialty in the new year. 

Deepak Bhatt, MD, director of the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital and principal investigator of the TRANSFORM trial, explains an emerging technique for cardiac screening: combining coronary CT angiography with artificial intelligence for plaque analysis to create an approach similar to mammography.

A total of 16 cardiology practices from 12 states settled with the DOJ to resolve allegations they overbilled Medicare for imaging agents used to diagnose cardiovascular disease.