Dear Friends and Colleagues,
There were more than 1900 of you in Geneva last September for our Annual Euroson
Congress, held along with the "Ultraschall-Dreiländertreffen". This multidisciplinary
medical meeting has gathered together people from more than 40 European and non-European
countries, linked by their common interest in medical ultrasound.
Continuing medical education was an important part of the meeting, with about 200
hours of refresher courses, workshops and state-of-art lectures divided among the
different medical specialities. We had the chance to benefit from the experience
of more than 200 international ultrasound experts who were all enthusiastic to share
their knowledge with us. The participants were indeed unanimous in emphasising the
high quality of the speakers and I take this opportunity to thanks them all once more
for their excellent job and their always-positive collaboration.
A medical speciality cannot survive without a regular renewal of basic concepts and
general knowledge. Indeed the continuing education keeps the level high, but real
breakthroughs come from research. This Euroson Congress was also particularly rich
in scientific contents, with more than 200 scientific presentations and more than
150 posters. This large number of scientific papers reflects the high level and the
thrust of European sonography. Both EFSUMB and SSUM-SGUM (Swiss Society of Sonography)
actively sustain this aspect of medical sonography. The awards distributed by these
Societies to young scientists during the Congress not only reward high quality scientific
work but also stimulate researchers to produce future papers.
A part of the program unanimously applauded by the attendees was the "Sonohöhle",
the room dedicated to practical work with the standing participation of tutors from
the SSUM, particularly from the internal medicine and general practitioners sections.
These people have produced a huge activity to organize and perform these tutorials
and I also take the opportunity to thank them all. Indeed, the "Sonohöhle" has suffered
from its success and some have complained that not enough places were available.
Unfortunately not all was perfect and some improvements may be proposed for future
meetings. Practical work has to be enhanced with more places available. We hope we
may rely on the industry to help us in this project. Another criticism concerned the
lack of gala dinner. Convivial meeting of colleagues is really an important role of
a congress but cannot be assumed without financial security. With the actual reduction
in sponsorship all solutions have to be considered to assure the durability of our
annual meetings.
Finally, nothing would be possible without the professional support of our CPO. They
work very hard for the success of the meeting and I want to repeat how grateful I
am for their efficiency. Thus the projectors have been turned off, the exhibition
tidied and everybody returned home with a little bit more knowledge. The remaining
congress material (pens, pads and bags) have been distributed to a children's association.
I hope that every attendee will keep pleasant memories of this meeting and will be
stimulated to participate in future ones, either in Bologna for the next Euroson meeting
or in Graz for the next "Dreiländertreffen Ultraschall" ... or both!
PD Dr med Jean-Yves Meuwly
Congress President, Geneva 2005
