Author: Eugene

After you’ve gone to 2 or 3 RSNA meetings, you pick up a few tips on getting around and surviving the 4-6 days you’re there. So I thought I’d write about some of the things I’ve learned about RSNA survival.

Wear Comfortable shoes

Comfortable shoes are a must at RSNA. Your feet will be your primary mode of transportation, so forget fashion and forget looking good, unless you happen to enjoy having sore feet. At RSNA, you will do a lot of walking. You can easily cover a good 3-4 miles in a day just walking around McCormick Place, especially if you’re wandering through the two technical exhibit halls. If you’re not walking, you’re standing and either talking to someone or studying something.

Pace yourself

There’s a lot to see at RSNA, and if you try to do it all at once, you’ll end up burning out and exhausted.

Go early, leave late

Most people try to arrive at McCormick around 8ish. The Technical exhibits open at 10. If you didn’t get breakfast before McCormick, there’s a McDonald’s that offers pretty quick service, but lines quickly stretch outside the door after 7:30. The computer terminals also start getting crowded around 7:30-8. I like to arrive around 7, grab some breakfast at McD’s maybe (about the only time I’ll ever eat at McD’s), check my mail (plenty of open terminals, so theren’s no need to be rushed) and spend an hour or so studying some of the posters.
The Technical exhibits close at 5 PM, and that’s about when the exodus from McCormick begins. That’s also when the lines for the busses are the longest. You can easily spend 30-45 minutes standing in line just waiting for the bus. Instead of waiting in line, just head back to the poster exhibits and study a few more posters. Earn another hour of CE credits and then by the time you head back to the busses, the lines are gone and you’ll be on the bus about the same time as you would have been if you waited.

Explore

Plenty of things to see and do, not only at RSNA, but in Chicago.

Dress Accordingly

Everyone seems to wear dark or black suits/clothes, especially the people working the technical exhibits. So, if you want to be inconspicuous and blend in, wear dark clothes. If you want to be distinctive, stand out and make it easy for others to find you, wear something colourful.

Leave your coat behind

You’re walking around all day, and the last thing you want to do is be lugging around a heavy jacket all day. Yes, it’s November, and Chicago is cold in November. But about the only time you’re outside are the 5 seconds it takes to walk between your hotel lobby and the bus, and between the bus and McCormick Center. So, unless you have a nasty smoking habit (they make you go outside to smoke), the coat can be dispensed with. But if you insist on wearing one, there are coat checks where you can leave it. Then your only problem is remembering which coat check you left your coat at.

Leave your bag behind

Same advice goes for your bag/briefcase. All it will do is leave you with a sore and tired shoulder. If you happen to collect things through the day, there big roomy plastic bags available. Just grab one of those to hold your stuff in for the day.

It’s my last day here at RSNA. It’s a pretty light day, with scientific sessions just in the morning. That leaves my afternoon free to catch up on the technical exhibits.

This morning, I went to a refresher course on dual modality imaging and software based image registration. It was pretty interesting, and I learned a few very low-tech tips for doing image registration without needing expensive hybrid scanners or fiducial markers. Dual modality imaging (PET/SPECT CT in particular) is becoming an increasingly popular and valuable imaging method for diagnosing, especially for cases where the diagnosis from either modality is inconclusive.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the technical exhibits to check out some of the various offerings.

One new item was a (relatively) small corner called the RSNA Mobile Computing Pavillion. It was a collection of wireless, TabletPC, PDA and software vendors offering solutions for wireless and mobile computing in the radiology/healthcare environment. Got my first look at a TabletPC from Motion Computing. They’re pretty neat devices. I’m tempted to get one for my wife instead of a laptop.

Day 3. By about the 3rd or 4th day, most RSNA veterans are starting to get a little worn out from all the sensory overload and walking around. Most newbies are still a little overwhelmed and struggling to take in as much as possible.

This morning’s refresher course session was on PET brain imaging. Lots of clinical info, and discussion about using isotopes other than F-18 for doing things like neuroreceptor imaging. Neat stuff with lots of potential.

The next late morning session was on PET/CT imaging. Quite a few people discussing the benefits of CT/PET over PET alone. But, as one audience member commented, most PET reading is already done with an accompanying CT/MRI scan.

One new thing at the Poster exhibits this year was the hour long Poster session talks each day. There were sessions for various topics, so you pick the topic you’re interested in. You get a group of people gathering around a poster, and the author spends 5-7 minutes telling the group about their poster. Then you move on to the next poster. I rather liked this way of going through posters. Often you’re studying the posters on your own, and there’s no way of asking the author questions, short of leaving your card stuck to the poster.

Late afternoon science session was on CT dose. One interesting talk provided data on CT doses for head and abdomen studies from sites applying for ACR accreditation in CT.

The late afternoon refresher course I went to was Advanced Ultrasound imaging. It was mostly discussion on 3D and 4D ultrasound imaging technologies. Very cool. Ultrasound’s come a long way in the past few years.