Future Interventional Radiologists and Where to Find Them-Insights from Five UK Interventional Radiology Symposia for Junior Doctors and Medical Students.

BACKGROUND: The interventional radiology (IR) trainee recruitment in the UK is lagging behind the pace of service expansion and is potentially hindered by underrepresented undergraduate curricula. Understanding the contributing factors that encourage junior doctors and medical students to consider an IR career will help the IR community to better focus the efforts on recruiting and nurturing the next generation. METHODS: Anonymised questionnaires on undergraduate and postgraduate IR exposure were distributed to attendees of five UK IR symposia between 2019 and 2020. RESULTS: 220 responses were received from 103 (47%) junior doctors and 117 (53%) medical students. Prior IR exposure strongly correlates with individuals' positive views towards an IR career (Pearson's R = 0.40, p < 0.001), with involvement in clinical activities as the most important independent contributor (OR 3.6, 95%CI 1.21-10.50, p = 0.021). Longer time spent in IR (especially as elective modules) and IR-related portfolio-building experiences (such as participating in research, attending conferences and obtaining career guidance) demonstrate strong association with willingness to pursue an IR career for the more motivated (p values < 0.05). The symposia had overall positive effects on subjective likelihood to pursue an IR career, particularly among junior doctors who face near-term career choices (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our study, focusing on a self-selected cohort, identified contributing factors to individuals' willingness to pursue an IR career. Symposia have additional recruitment effects in extra-curricular settings. Active engagement with junior doctors and medical students through clinical activities and non-clinical portfolio-related experiences are key to generate informed and motivated candidates for the future of IR.

The pursuit of radiology training in times of a pandemic.

The Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has been the greatest challenge faced by the National Health Service (NHS) in its lifetime. The crisis has seen the disruption of many long-held institutions, most critically of which is specialty training. In this article, we discuss the impact of the pandemic on Radiology training in the UK. We explore the methods that have been used to combat these difficulties and suggest workable solutions. As technology platforms become ever more integral to our daily clinical routines, we discuss how these offer a new approach to training. We argue that, of all the medical disciplines, radiologists are best placed to design and implement technology-based training, and lead other specialties in doing so. Whilst the upheaval of traditional approaches to education is a challenge, we propose that this departure from the norm offers exciting opportunities for improvement.

The management of periorbital cellulitis secondary to sinonasal infection: a multicenter prospective study in the United Kingdom.

BACKGROUND: Periorbital cellulitis is a potential sight-threatening complication of sinusitis. The majority of patients improve with medical management. Previous studies have suggested significant variations in practice and lack of evidence regarding the optimal management of this condition. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted over a 12-month period at 8 centers in the United Kingdom assessing the management of patients requiring inpatient treatment for periorbital cellulitis secondary to sinonasal infections. RESULTS: A total of 143 patients were recruited, of whom 40 were excluded. Of the remaining 103 patients, 5 (4.9%) were diagnosed with neurosurgical complications. This resulted in 98 patients admitted with periorbital cellulitis secondary to an upper respiratory tract infection/sinusitis. A total of 72 were children, of whom 12 (16.7%) required surgical intervention; and of 26 adults, 5 (19.2%) required surgery: the most common antimicrobial regimes administered were intravenous ceftriaxone (with or without metronidazole), and co-amoxiclav. The use of both ceftriaxone and metronidazole from admission was associated with the shortest duration of inpatient stay (3.8 days) in comparison to ceftriaxone alone (5.8 days) or co-amoxiclav (4.5 days) and a reduction in number of patients requiring surgical intervention. There was also an association between the early use of intranasal decongestants and steroids and reduction in requirement for surgical intervention. CONCLUSION: For a condition where swab and blood cultures are often negative, this study supports the use of ceftriaxone in combination with metronidazole. The administration of intranasal decongestants and corticosteroids correlated with a smaller percentage of those progressing to surgery in those with and without periorbital abscesses.

Management of Paget's Disease of the Calcaneum.

The calcaneum is not the most common site for Paget's disease of bone, with only a few reports of monostotic involvement. We present 2 cases of Paget's disease of bone affecting the calcaneus, present an overview of the published data, and describe our management of these interesting cases.

Image guided robotic surgery: current evidence for effectiveness in urology.

OBJECTIVES: Discussion of the evolution of image guided surgery (IGS) and its fundamental components and current evidence for effectiveness of IGS in clinical urology. METHODS: Literature search for image-guided robotic urology. RESULTS: Current literature in image-guided robotic urology with its use in robot assisted radical prostatectomy and robot assisted partial nephrectomy are shown. CONCLUSIONS: Image guided surgery can be a useful aid to improve visualisation of anatomy and subsurface structures during minimally invasive surgery. Soft-tissue deformation makes it difficult to implement IGS in urology but current studies have shown an attempt to address this issue. The feasibility of IGS requires randomised control trials assessing in particular its accuracy and affect on clinical outcome.