At the end of September Dr. Jules Sumkin (Chairman), Dr. Andrew Cordle (Musculoskeletal imaging), Dr. Anish Ghodadra (Interventional Radiology), Dr. Alessandro Furlan (Abdominal Imaging) and Dr. Shandong Wu (Breast imaging) travelled to Shanghai, China as guest speakers at the 60th anniversary academic conference of Chinese diagnostic ultrasound in medicine.
The conference was hosted by Dr. Bing Hu and Dr. Yuanyl Zheng, respectively director and vice-director of the Department of Ultrasound of the Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital and of the Shanghai Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. The collaboration between the University of Pittsburgh and the Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital was established in 2011 and has led to many scientific collaborations and exchange of clinical trainees as well as annual meetings.
Dr. Sumkin addressed the second day of the conference with a brief presentation of the UPMC Department of Radiology and a well-received review of the role of ultrasound in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Dr. Cordle presented on the purpose, pitfalls and pearls of musculoskeletal ultrasound while Dr. Ghodadra reported on recent advances in 3D printing. Dr. Furlan discussed the role of elastography for the non-invasive diagnosis of hepatic fibrosis in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and Dr. Shandong Wu discussed the use of artificial intelligence in breast imaging. The group also joined a panel judging short scientific oral papers presented by young trainees in ultrasound.
The UPMC delegation visited the Department of Ultrasound at the Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital, a 1400 beds institution also known as the “birthplace of Chinese ultrasound”. In this hospital, Professor Yongchnag Zhou and others pioneered ultrasound medicine in the late 1950’s. The large and high-volume Department of Ultrasound covers all ultrasound-based exams and it included more than 30 scanners and 3 HIFU systems. The group was also invited to visit the research lab where Dr. Hu’s and Zheng’s team develop micro- and nanobubbles for contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging. The trip included also visits to the old and new Shanghai, to the lake and Buddha temple in Hangzhou and to the channels of Suzhou, also known as “The Venice of the East”. It was an amazing trip and it might prompt future scientific collaborations.
