Juergen Hennig, PhD

MORE THAN 10 YEARS after its introduction to clinical di- agnosis, MR is still growing strong, both in its areas of ap- plication as well as in its geographical distribution. Several factors are contributing to a shift of the distribution of MR from its traditional geographical areas (North America, West- ern Europe, Japan) to other parts of the world. One cause of this geographical shift is a certain saturation in areas with a high density of MR systems per number of inhabitants. Another is the worldwide crisis in the public health care sys- tems. In addition, many countries have reached in the last few years a developmental stage at which the operation of MR centers has become feasible, both in terms of the avail- able infrastructure as well as the economic potential.

A major problem in most countries on the verge of entering the MR community is the need of information about the proper use of this technology. In the West, we are facing the danger of drowning in the deluge ofjournals, books, syllabi, etc. amving in our laboratories faster than we can read them. This stands in huge contrast to the situation in the developing countries, where access even to major journals often is nonexistent due to the total lack of well-equipped libraries and the (compared with the cost of living as well as the income) high cost of journal subscriptions. It is good to see that the number of participants from these countries in major international meetings such as the Radiological Soci- ety of North America or the International Society for Mag- netic Resonance in Medicine is steadily increasing. It should be considered, however, that a significant number of those who are affluent enough to travel to these meetings are de- cision-makers but are not necessarily those who are involved in the day-to-day work on the MR scanners. To get infor- mation about the state-of-the-art in MR to those who are in a position to make decisions about buying MR-equipment is, of course, an important and necessary step. I t does not, how- ever, fill the information gap of those who work with these machines, either in clinical routine or research. Apart from the huge demand in these countries to get access to the in- ternational literature, it is therefore extremely important to have meetings and conferences taking place in developing countries so that MR users can be directly reached.

Index terms: Developing Countries - Intematmnal exchange - MRI duration

JMRI 1997: 7.265265

From the Radiology MR Center, Freiburg Univemty, Hugstcttcistrasse 55.79106Frei- burg. Germany. E-mail: hennigt3nzll.ukl.uni. Address reprint requests to the au thor.

ISMRM, 1997

Several workshops are taking place every year in regions such as Southeast Asia, the former Eastern block countries, and South America. More often than not, however, one gets the impression that these mcetings are designed to conform to the expectations of the speakers coming from the United States and Europe and do not necessarily meet the local needs. Workshops in five-star hotels or resorts with costs for the participants in the several-hundred-dollar range are cer- tainly a good opportunity to reach the “high brass,” but they often do not reach the broader MR community in the re- spective host countries.

From my 12 years of travels to developing countries in which I have given talks on MR and tried to establish collab- orations, I have found it mandatory to develop a basis of common trust and understanding to find out what the local needs really are. Naive goodwill often does more harm than good, and it takes time to get a good understanding of the appropriate requirements. The needs of somebody operating a MR center in the outskirts of Shanghai, for example, might be drastically different from those encountered in a Western university hospital. The goal is not to force our preconccp- tions on others but to give information such that anyone concerned can make an independent, rational decision.

After many travels to China since 1985, I have joined some Chinese friends to found the European Chinese Society for Clinical Magnetic Resonance with the aim of addressing the needs for information exchange with China. We had our first meeting in 1995, which was a success. We will hold our sec- ond international conference from June 29 to 30, 1997 in Beijing. We expect 400 clinicians from all over China to at- tend this meeting. Apart from being an opportunity for the participants to get first-hand information about MR from leading scientists and clinicians, the second, and equally im- portant, goal of such a meeting is to bring people together to develop further collaborations. The establishment of collab- orations on an institute-to-institute basis have a long-range benefit that reaches beyond lhis single event.

I am quite pleased to see that similar activities are starting up in various regions of the globe. I am personally aware of and involved in one other such meeting, the International Conference on Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, which- with the sponsorship of the European Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology-takes place in K z a n liom September 8 to 10, 1997. I am sure other conferences will follow.

I therefore wish to encourage all readers of JMRI to look beyond the traditional scope of the MR community. In the growing world of MR, it is our duty to be attentive to the requirements of the new entrants to the field. With the enor- mous (scientific, and not just economic) potential oP these countries, our current “investment“ will be to our benefit in the foreseeable future.

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