The Canadian Society of Breast Imaging (CSBI) kicked off its second annual conference on Saturday, May 18th, 2019 over the Victoria Day long weekend in historic Quebec City. The conference, held in conjunction with the Société de Radiologie du Québec and Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists, welcomed over 200 radiologists, physicists, medical radiation technologists and family physicians. The CSBI event was the highlight of the weekend featuring high calibre breast imaging education and speakers from across the globe.
The Tomosynthesis and Breast Ultrasound workshops as well as panel discussion on Breast Density were among some of the highlights of the event. The panel discussion moderated by Dr. Jean Seely, President of CSBI included speakers from across the globe to provide their expert opinion on breast density and screening protocols. The panelists consisted of Dr. Paula Gordon, breast radiologist, Sharlene Bilmer, breast ultrasound technologist, Dr. Shiela Appavoo, community radiologist, Dr. Colin Mar, BC Breast Screening Program radiologist leader, Dr. Catherine Colin, radiologist from France and Dr. Ed Sickles, radiologist on the panel as special guests. We were also honoured to have Ms. Susan Peters, CSBI patient representative to provider her perspective on breast density notification.
Dr. Gregory Doyle helped to set the stage for the day by conducting a deep dive into the history of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care and discussed the discrepancies between the recommendations and evidence in Canadian breast screening programs.
Dr. Wendie Berg inspired us all with an excellent talk on personalized and supplemental breast screening. During her talk she referenced evidence on genetic risk and breast tissue density as well as highlighted the biggest risk of death from breast cancer is failure to screen.
All the way from Lyon, France, Dr. Catherine Colin provided a glimpse into the processes employed in European screening programs. We were all surprised to hear that risk assessment starts at age 25 and that women identified as having dense breasts are all screened with supplemental breast ultrasound.
Dr. Anat Kornecki spoke about contrast-enhanced mammography and provided an overview on this burgeoning technique, which holds promise in many scenarios, including tumour workup and high-risk screening. Dr. Kornecki’s enthusiasm inspired many in the audience to consider starting using this modality in their own facilities.
The final lecture of the morning was by Dr Jean Seely, who discussed the need to encourage awareness about the benefits of screening in the face of misleading and erroneous information provided by the Canadian Task force 2018 Guidelines on breast cancer screening.
Breakout workshop groups were formed for the afternoon, with Dr Supriya Kulkarni’s excellent 90-minute interactive workshop as well as Dr Yves Loisel’s full afternoon tomosynthesis workshop in which participants went through 100 cases on fully interactive viewing stations.
The CSBI event had over 100 registrants from across Canada as well as 8 sponsors, including the Canadian Association of Radiologists. Platinum Corporate partner, Christie Innomed welcomed everyone to Quebec City during the Opening Reception and shared their excitement regarding the new partnership with CSBI. GE Healthcare was also present, and it was announced that they have signed on as a partner to support CSBI’s initiatives in 2019.
The CSBI Board of Directors offered open access to their Annual General Meeting. Both members and registrants gathered to listen to Dr. Seely share the CSBI’s 3-year plan and goals for the future. This was a great opportunity to connect with members and to promote the CSBI as an important cause and seek support for the bourgeoning organization.
We invite all CSBI members to share in the memories of this event by visiting csbi.ca/conference. Conference registrants and CSBI members will also have exclusive access to the talks via email invitation. Stay tuned for the recorded sessions in the coming weeks.
A big thank you to participants for attending the annual conference and supporting the CSBI. Special acknowledgement to the CAR, SRQ and COMP for their support and collaboration in planning this meeting.
The CSBI is preparing for their next conference to take place next year in Alberta. Additional details will follow with the specific date and location.