Emerging Technologies Subcommittee

Abstract

THE Emerging Technologies Subcommittee was initiated in 2005 and reorganized as an official subcommittee of the Technology Assessment Committee of the Society of Interventional Radiology in 2007. Recognizing that research and development plays a vital role in the success of any technology-driven enterprise, one of our principle goals is to encourage and facilitate dissemination of medical research at all levels (basic, translational, and clinical) across a wide swath of the research landscape (eg, biological, chemical, mechanical) to our members. It is our hope that this will provide active or potential researchers in our field with additional scientific perspective or knowledge by identifying potential growth areas. We also hope to encourage members to contribute to this knowledge base through active discussion and contribution of articles to the Emerging Technologies Subcommittee.Concordant with this theme, it is also crucial from time to time to address those issues that may appear outside the traditional realm of scientific-based research yet cut across the corpus of medical-driven research and emerging technologies in particular. “Conflicts of interest” is one such topic.The debate regarding conflicts of interest in medicine has become a major focus among physicians, the public, government and regulatory bodies, and the media. There are increasing data suggesting tangible detrimental consequences, and these have led to at least partial regulation. Medical specialties such as internal medicine and oncology have been drivers of much of the debate to date. Interventional radiology has seen rapid technologic advancement largely because of a close working relationship with industry. Consequently, the topic of conflict of interest is of great importance to the SIR and requires internal debate before it is explored by external regulatory bodies and the media.The following article by Baerlocher et al (1Baerlocher M.O. Millward S.F. Cardella J.F. Conflicts of interest in the development of new interventional medical devices.J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2009; 20: S546-S550Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar) is a provocative article that bravely attempts to wade into this controversial and contentious topic. It hopes to provide a balanced and objective evaluation. You be the judge. At the very least, we hope it will generate interest and discussion on this topic from our readers. THE Emerging Technologies Subcommittee was initiated in 2005 and reorganized as an official subcommittee of the Technology Assessment Committee of the Society of Interventional Radiology in 2007. Recognizing that research and development plays a vital role in the success of any technology-driven enterprise, one of our principle goals is to encourage and facilitate dissemination of medical research at all levels (basic, translational, and clinical) across a wide swath of the research landscape (eg, biological, chemical, mechanical) to our members. It is our hope that this will provide active or potential researchers in our field with additional scientific perspective or knowledge by identifying potential growth areas. We also hope to encourage members to contribute to this knowledge base through active discussion and contribution of articles to the Emerging Technologies Subcommittee. Concordant with this theme, it is also crucial from time to time to address those issues that may appear outside the traditional realm of scientific-based research yet cut across the corpus of medical-driven research and emerging technologies in particular. “Conflicts of interest” is one such topic. The debate regarding conflicts of interest in medicine has become a major focus among physicians, the public, government and regulatory bodies, and the media. There are increasing data suggesting tangible detrimental consequences, and these have led to at least partial regulation. Medical specialties such as internal medicine and oncology have been drivers of much of the debate to date. Interventional radiology has seen rapid technologic advancement largely because of a close working relationship with industry. Consequently, the topic of conflict of interest is of great importance to the SIR and requires internal debate before it is explored by external regulatory bodies and the media. The following article by Baerlocher et al (1Baerlocher M.O. Millward S.F. Cardella J.F. Conflicts of interest in the development of new interventional medical devices.J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2009; 20: S546-S550Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3) Google Scholar) is a provocative article that bravely attempts to wade into this controversial and contentious topic. It hopes to provide a balanced and objective evaluation. You be the judge. At the very least, we hope it will generate interest and discussion on this topic from our readers.