11^th WFUMB World Congress in Seoul - South Korea, 28th May -1st June 2006 - Motto: A better world with ultrasound

This was another really very good World Congress, carefully planned and with perfect choreography carried out by Prof. Choi as Congress President, Prof. Kim as Congress Secretary, and their highly efficient and always friendly team. No minute of the five day congress was wasted, no topic in the clinical application of ultrasonography was omitted, and all aspects of relevance on the topics of physics, safety, education, spread and policy of ultrasound imaging in diagnosis and in intervention were covered. This holds true both for all state of the art lectures presented and for all other plenary lectures in all areas including the clinical specialist`s increasingly widespread use of diagnostic and interventional ultrasonography as for example in obstetrics and gynaecology, in gastroenterology, in cardiology, in urology, and so forth. The program was clearly and cleverly set up in a great number of refresher courses (with altogether 204 lectures), plenary and key-note lectures (10 and 25, respectively) with technical innovation, hot focus (5 and 10 lectures, respectively), and three lunch sessions (feeding both spirit and body); in addition, a session on educational topics offered 5 lectures with about 70 colleagues attending). A total of 232 speakers and/or chairpersons had been invited, and the total number of registered participants was 3235, mostly medical doctors.

The horizons and beyond of clinical and investigational ultrasonography were covered by the world's greatest experts in various fields, coming from 76 nationalities of the World Federation of Societies for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB).

An outstanding overview was given in the Congress Speech by Barry Goldberg on the topic of "A better world with ultrasound" - concluding amongst others that clinical ultrasonography counts for about 25% of all imaging procedures worldwide; that there is a revolution in the utilization of US with widespread use increasing not only among established and experienced specialists but also other medical disciplines who find the use of US to be an important part of their diagnostic and therapeutic armamentarium as for example in emergency and intensive care medicine; and that the future of ultrasound never looked better. The evidence points to ultrasound helping to make the world a better place by improving the quality of healthcare in developed and developing and emerging countries around the globe.

An excellent scientific poster exhibition was arranged, demanding many hours of reading by the delegates. The best were given prizes during the Congress Banquet together with the certificates (and the cheques) for the Young Investigator Awards after a challenging contest of lectures on varied topics.

The industrial exhibition displaying all products of the sponsoring industries, to whom we must be very grateful, gave a complete survey of all the "technical tools" ultrasound systems and adjuncts such as interventional products that we use was provided in a total of 162 booths.

A glimpse or a bit more of an impression of the hosting nation`s very rich traditions, history, and artistic performances was had, too, during the social evening events including the nicely arranged get together party, the social program, and the Congress Banquet.

In a comprehensive and impressive closing ceremony, the data of this most successful congress were summarized, and the invitation for the next World Congress was launched. It will be truly challenging for the organizers of the 12th World Conference in Sydney, Australia to cope with these data and the always warm and friendly atmosphere of this congress - no doubt; however, they will meet this demand successfully.

The way of globalization as we experienced it in Seoul over these few days is really good for ultrasound - us as users and providers, and for our patients.

Lucas Greiner, EFSUMB Honorary Secretary

Kurt Jäger, EFSUMB Past President