Exchange Programme for Oncologic Imaging Fellowships (ESOI)

Aim

Radiology has a leading role in cancer patient pathway – from detection, image-guided tissue obtainment, complete staging, multimodality disciplinary meeting review, early/late therapy response assessment to follow-up. Constant advancement in imaging technology, including different software availability for image post-processing, requires understanding of how obtained information can be useful in clinical decision-making, raising the need to sufficiently train further young radiologists who want to be involved in Cancer Imaging.

The Exchange Programme for Oncologic Imaging Fellowship, supported by the European Society of Radiology (ESR) and the European Society of Oncologic Imaging (ESOI), offers an opportunity to complement subspecialisation training in Oncologic Imaging or an existing structured fellowship programme, through exchange, in this field of Radiology. The three-month long exchange programme will provide an intense modular training in all areas of Oncologic Imaging, including CT, MRI, PET-CT, PET-MRI as well as participation in multidisciplinary meetings where need for image-guided biopsies and therapeutic interventions gets discussed.

The exchange programme is organised through ESOR and will expose trainees to all aspects of Oncologic Imaging under the supervision of an assigned mentor who is an ESOI member, in a pre-selected European reference training centre.

Number of available places

One place will be offered and organised through ESOR. The successful applicant will receive a grant jointly provided by ESR/ESOR and ESOI.

Eligibility

1. This exchange programme applies to radiologists within the first three-four years after certification, who desire to become subspecialist radiologists.
2. The applicant must have knowledge of current clinical practice in radiology with regard to cross-sectional imaging. Competence in producing a radiological report, in communication with clinicians and patients, and knowledge of the principles of administration and management applied to a clinical department with multi-disciplinary staff and high-cost equipment are essential. Understanding the medicolegal implications of uncertainty and errors in diagnostic radiology is necessary. A clinical background in other disciplines, which has been achieved through clinical experience and training prior to entering the fellowship is important, whereas, clinical experience in Oncologic Imaging would be of benefit.
3. Applicants must be fluent in English.
4. An active ESR and ESOI membership is required.

• Applicants who were selected for this programme in the past cannot be considered for a second time.
• It will be possible to apply for one programme and within this programme for one topic only.
• To ensure equal opportunities candidates should apply only to institutions outside of their country of residence/work.
• All applications will be carefully reviewed by an evaluation committee after the submission deadline.
• The selected candidates will be asked to provide additional documents to the training centre for administrative purposes.
• A valid Covid-19 vaccination certificate will be required by most hospitals.
• The selected fellows are further asked to take care of their health insurance and are responsible for their visa. (Please make sure to apply well in time because of prolonged waiting periods.)

Duration of fellowship and funding

Programme structure

Based on weekly training programme modules, the trainee will familiarise him/herself with the institution’s imaging equipment. He/She will then learn to become proficient at imaging examinations used to diagnose oncologic cases, to review and interpret images followed by case-by-case hands-on teaching on rountine clinical cases with different modalities from experienced staff.

The training institutions will expose each trainee to at least 250 mentored oncologic imaging studies covering the spectrum of available cross-sectional modalities. Furthermore the trainee shall be trained by a mentor in the interpretation of dedicated oncologic imaging studies from an established teaching file or previous cases. At the end of the training programme the trainee should be proficient in discussing the appropriate imaging modality and imaging technique with referring clinicians and be able to interpret different oncologic imaging examinations on his/her own.

In non-native English speaking training centres teaching would be in English, while major radiological conferences and reporting may be in the local language. Some knowledge of the local language may be an advantage.

The trainee will be able to observe clinical activities, but will not have direct patient care responsibilities.

It is the trainee’s responsibility to communicate with the centre regarding the details of the training and whether more responsibilities than observer status can be obtained. ESOR solely acts as facilitator and coordinator between the training centre and the trainee.

Certification