EFSUMB is pleased to announce the election of Prof Luigi Bolondi, Bologna, Italy as
an Honorary Member, for his major contribution to the field of ultrasound.
Luigi Bolondi has pioneered the development of clinical ultrasonography in Europe
and worldwide. He became involved in this new technique in his late medical school
years in 1972/3. He rapidly developed and led the new emerging imaging technology
and wrote textbooks in abdominal ultrasound based on his personal experience and discoveries
in the late 70 s’, which have been the reference to learn ultrasound for many Italian
and European physicians. He has been a visiting fellow at Prof. Holm’s laboratory
in Copenhagen and following this was among the first ones to report on the possibility
to perform ultrasound guided liver and pancreas interventions and particularly US
guided biopsy and percutaneous ethanol injection for small HCC. He published several
works in the field of applications of ultrasound in liver disease, including the diagnosis
of Budd Chiari syndrome, the abnormalities occurring in the instance of portal hypertension
and the diagnostic patterns and treatment modalities of hepatocellular carcinoma.
He has been mentor to many Italian and international physicians, some of which have
later grown to the maturity to lead national and international scientific societies.
Prof Luigi Bolondi – EFSUMB’s newest Honorary Member.
His contribution to Ultrasound has been particularly remarkable in the field of focal
liver lesions and hepatocellular carcinoma. He was part of the board of the organizers
of the first European Consensus Meeting leading to the release of the first guidelines
for the management of Hepatocellular Carcinoma by the European Association for the
Study of the Liver (EASL) in 2001 (Bruix J et al. J Hep 2001), which for the first
time endorsed the use of ultrasound for the diagnosis of HCC when able to demonstrate
arterial hypervascularization and recommended surveillance of cirrhotic patients by
ultrasonography, thus establishing the official standard use of ultrasound for cirrhotic
patients. He has also been co-author of the first EFSUMB guidelines on the use of
Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound.
He has achieved an ISI H-index of 54, published 340 full papers and received more
than 14 000 citations. He served as President for the European Federation of Societies
for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology in the term 1996–1999 and was President of
the Italian Society (SIUMB) from 1992 to 1994. He organized the successful WFUMB congress
in Florence in 2000 (over 2400 attendees from more than 40 Countries) and the EUROSON
congresses in Bologna in 1978 and in 2006.
As EFSUMB President he paid great attention to the promotion of countries from the
former Soviet Union, facilitating the training and participation of their members
to European initiatives. Those countries which in many instances had become independent
only for a relative short time are now very active and relevant contributors to EFSUMB.
He also promoted the change in the EUROSON congress organization from a self standing
event to an event to be run in conjunction with one National Society at a time during
its national congress, revitalizing the congresses, in a modality which is still successfully
adopted today.
Written by Stefania Speca, President SIUMB 2016
