The theme for this year's French national congress, Journées Francophones de Radiologie (JFR) 2021, will be "fair radiology," with a particular focus on interventional radiology. Fair radiology must allow everyone to benefit from equal access to quality of care, regardless of geographical area and the patient's autonomy, noted congress president Dr. Hélène Kovacsik, PhD, in a statement about the event.
Kovacsik says JFR 2021 will take place "face-to-face" from 8 to 11 October 2021 at the Palais de Congrès in Porte Maillot, Paris. Alternatively, if the pandemic evolves to necessitate further social distancing restrictions, the congress will switch to virtual format and will take place in different sessions throughout the year.
Dr. Hélène Kovacsik, PhD.Fair radiology also covers green issues, and "eco-responsibility" will be a strong theme of the congress. At the congress itself, four multiprofessional debate sessions will cover digital pollution, waste sorting, 5G and new technologies, contrast products, and single use, she wrote.
The theme of interventional radiology, under the title "Fair Embo," will focus on optimization of resources to treat the more destitute, while "Beyond borders" devoted to the subspecialty's advances will be the theme of the plenary session on Saturday. Speakers from China and Brazil will participate in interactive sessions about these two main topics. Fairness also includes gender equality.
Women and men must be able to practice interventional radiology in the same way and an international session will be dedicated to "women in interventional radiology over the world," according to Kovacsik. Elisabeth Badinter, PhD -- the philosopher, author, historian, and feminist -- will be the keynote speaker at the Great Sunday Conference to present a woman's view of radiology in terms of robotics, telemedicine, centralization of data, the "augmented" patient in the context of the reduction in local resources, gender and wealth inequalities, and quality of care and of the radiologist-patient relationship in terms of ethics and fairness.
The Artificial Intelligence, Ultrasound, and Interventional Radiology villages will remain key contact points, but with new activities. And there will also be two large relaxation lounges: the "COVID-19 imagery" lounge and the "Radiology and cinema" lounge. In addition, congress sessions will take stock of the current pandemic and beyond with European experts.
