Published on 01 March 2024
By Jessica Yang
The ARGANZ 2024 meeting took place at the Crown Promenade Melbourne over the weekend on the 24-25th February. There were 2 pre-meeting workshops, the 2-day CT colonography workshop on Thursday and Friday, and the ARGANZ workshop on the Friday. There were 423 registrations with more than 80% of delegates attending in person.
Our international faculty, Prof Perry Pickhardt, A/Prof Cher Heng Tan and Dr Damian Tolan delivered world-class presentations, supported by a strong Australian and New Zealand faculty, showcasing the depth and strength of abdominal imaging locally. The lectures were thought provoking and generated discussions, some had the potential to significantly change current practices.
ARGANZ was thrilled to see many trainees and JMOs taking up the complimentary registrations. The 2024 meeting also received a record number of abstract submissions for oral and poster presentations. The Mendelson Research Prize winner was Dr Alexander Kirwan from Prince of Wales Hospital NSW, for his presentation on “Spectral dual layer CT for choledocholithiasis: A blinded comparison study”. The prize is a trip to attend the ESGAR meeting, with flights, accommodation and registration all paid for. The runner up prize was awarded to Dr Thu Nguyen from South Australia Medical Imaging for her presentation on “Automated triage of abdominal X-ray reports using large language models”. The runner up prize includes free registration to next year’s ARGANZ meeting and up to $1000 reimbursement for flights and accommodation. The popular poster vote winner was Dr Kosuke Kato for the poster “Spectrum of small bowel wall thickening: A case series”. Well done and congratulations to all.
A new initiative for ARGANZ 2024 was the Trainee Hub, a dedicated space for registrars and JMOs at the conference to meet and mingle. There was an abdominal fellowship information session at the Trainee Hub, where recent overseas and local abdominal fellows shared their experience and advice with registrars and JMOs over drinks and canapes.
Congratulations to Dr Jash Agraval, who was elected as a new executive member of ARGANZ. Dr Agraval will be the third New Zealand executive member, and brings with him subspecialty abdominal imaging expertise, extensive college experience and leadership capabilities.
Thank you for attending ARGANZ 2024 and we look forward to welcoming you to ARGANZ 2025 on the Gold Coast.
Dr Jessica Yang
Chair of ARGANZ