RSNA 2026 Trending Topics
RSNA 2026 will spotlight emerging trends in medical imaging, clinical practice and patient care
“Radiologists and imaging scientists bring together clinical information, technology and multidisciplinary expertise at nearly every stage of the patient journey,” said Kate Hanneman, MD, MPH, chair of the RSNA Annual Meeting Program Planning Committee (AMPPC). “This is reflected throughout the program, from patient-centered innovation and equitable access to mass-casualty response, AI governance, theranostics and sustainable care delivery.”
Trends highlighted in this year’s program include advances in photon-counting CT, multimodal AI, opportunistic imaging and more accessible approaches like low-field MRI.
“Together, these developments point toward a future in which imaging is more quantitative, predictive and integrated across the patient journey, while being implemented with greater attention to access, safety and value,” Dr. Hanneman said.
Expanding What a Single Exam Can Do
Photon-counting CT continues to advance beyond improved image quality and dose reduction into tissue characterization, quantitative imaging and new diagnostic applications.
To see how investigators are applying the technology across the heart, lungs and vasculature, Dr. Hanneman recommended the session Novel Photon- Counting CT Applications Beyond Standard Spectral CT.
She also pointed to Foundation and Multimodal Models in Radiology, highlighting research on AI systems that combine imaging and clinical data to support diagnosis and patient care.
“That work provides an important reminder that increasingly capable models still require rigorous testing for bias, failure modes and patient-safety risks,” Dr. Hanneman said.
High-Impact Research and Closing Gaps
High-impact clinical trials showcase research with the potential to inform clinical decisions and improve patient care. From Clinical Innovation to Healthcare Transformation: Translational Research in Practice features David Mankoff, MD, PhD, examining how clinical research moves from evidence to meaningful changes in practice.
Sustainability and equity sessions are also shifting from challenges to solution implementation. Dr. Hanneman recommends Operationalizing Sustainable Radiology: A Practical How I Do It Session for guidance on forming green teams, measuring energy use and introducing practical initiatives.
She also highlighted Right Study, Right Dose: Patient-First Strategies to Reduce Contrast and Environmental Impact, connecting environmental stewardship with imaging appropriateness, patient safety and quality of care.
Is Low-Field the Solution to MRI Access in Africa? addresses the economics, partnerships and expertise needed to expand access. Academic Care Without Walls: Strengthening Integrated Care Networks Across Academic and Community Sites examines extending academic expertise, research infrastructure and standardized care to community, rural and safety-net settings.
“These sessions reflect an important evolution from identifying disparities to discussing how we implement and scale solutions,” Dr. Hanneman said.
Implementing and Evaluating AI
AI discussions are shifting from model development to real-world use, Dr. Hanneman said. Sessions include:
- Metrics, Momentum, and Mission: Maximizing Benefits of AI in Care Delivery
- Deep Dive QI for AI: Governance, Evaluation, and Post-Deployment Monitoring
- The Frontier Practice: Turning Generative and Agentic AI into Real Practice Value
- From Dictation to Drafts: LLMs in Radiology Reporting – What Worked, What Broke, What’s Next
“Meaningful AI impact cannot be defined by model accuracy alone,” Dr. Hanneman said. “It must include workflow performance, generalizability, equity, clinician experience, patient outcomes and ongoing safety monitoring.”
Building Skills Beyond the Reading Room
Non-interpretive sessions help strengthen leadership, communication and change management skills.
Dr. Hanneman recommended Beyond Optics: Authentic Leadership, Workforce Well-Being, and the Future of Professionalism in Radiology which highlights accountable leadership and measuring well-being, psychological safety and workforce outcomes.
She also suggested the session Saying the Hard Things: Communication in Radiology, which addresses essential communication skills that are seldom taught explicitly.
“RSNA 2026 gives attendees an opportunity not only to see where imaging science is heading, but also to consider how new discoveries can be implemented responsibly and translated into better care,” Dr. Hanneman said. “That combination of science, education, technology and global collaboration is what makes the annual meeting so valuable.”
For More Information
Review the RSNA 2026 Program.
View highlights from our Learning Center Theater sessions featuring cutting-edge science topics, including high-impact clinical trials in radiology.
Read RSNA News stories about RSNA 2026:
RSNA 2026 Annual Meeting Program Planning Committee Recommendations
Trending topics include AI-based breast cancer risk assessment, contrast-enhanced mammography and supplemental MRI screening.
- Supplemental MRI Screening in Women at High AI-Predicted Risk: Primary Outcomes from the Clinical Trial ScreenTrustMRI
- Combining Commercial AI Detection and Risk Scores to Triage Supplemental Imaging in Women with Dense Breasts: A Secondary Analysis of the BRAID Trial
- Contrast-Enhanced Mammography in Women with Prior Breast-Conserving Surgery for Breast Cancer: Final Results from the COMBO Trial with One-Year Follow-Up
- Improving Efficiency of Breast Screening with AI: Autonomous Reading of Low-Suspicion Mammograms and Supplemental Imaging Selection
- From Imaging to Intervention: Case-Based Applications of CEM and Breast MRI
- Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines Worldwide: Initiation, Cessation, and Opportunistic Screening
Highlights include AI-guided coronary plaque and inflammation assessment, next-generation calcium scoring and solutions to common cardiac MR challenges.
- Artificial Intelligence-Guided Radiomics Signatures of Coronary Inflammation Improve MACE Risk Stratification in Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease
- Agatston-2.0: A Next-Generation AI-Based Coronary Calcium Quantification Approach to Improve Risk Stratification How to Train Your MRI Dragon: Solutions to Common CMR Problems
- Knowledge Adaptation-Driven Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring from Ungated CT Attenuation Scans
- Deep Learning Coronary Atherosclerosis and Pericoronary Inflammation for Long-Term Risk Stratification of Nonobstructive Coronary Artery Disease: The QUANTUM Study
- Commercial AI-Guided Quantitative CCTA Plaque Analysis for Cardiovascular Prognosis: A Systematic Review
Photon-counting and dual-energy CT, functional lung imaging and AI-driven nodule assessment are trending in this area, as well as updates on diffuse and interstitial lung disease and advances in thoracic vascular imaging.
- Is Routine Evaluation of Lung Iodine Maps from Photon-Counting Detector CT Warranted? A Real-World Study
- Lung CT Perfusion for Comprehensive Evaluation of CTEPH: Validation Against SPECT and Right Heart Catheterization
- Lung-RADS 4A Malignant Nodules: Longer Diagnostic Intervals Are Associated with T-Stage Upstaging and Nodal Progression
- Fundamentals and Updates of Diffuse Lung Diseases
- AI-Driven Triage for Pulmonary Embolism: A Multi-Setting Study of 90,000 CTPA Examinations
- Pulmonary Airway Quantification of Interstitial Lung Disease in Chest CT
The focus this year is on real-world AI implementation, emerging CT and MRI techniques, and point-of-care neuroimaging.
- Evaluating the Validity of AI-Assisted Grading for Determining Resident Competency in Emergency Radiology Using the WIDI SIM Platform
- Ultrafast 3-Minute MRI with Deep Learning Reconstruction and Compressed Sensing for Acute Stroke Triage
- AI in Emergency Radiology: What Works, What Fails and Why
- CT Evaluation of Bowel and Mesenteric Trauma: A Case-Based Imaging Approach to Diagnosis, Pitfalls, and Surgical Decision-Making
- Point-of-Care Neuroimaging with Ultra-Low-Field MRI: A Proposed Practical Workflow for Portable MRI Use in Community Hospital
- Rethinking Imaging of Pulmonary Embolism in Pregnancy: Trimester-Specific Risk Stratification, Image Quality, and Management Implications
Trending topics include AI, metabolic liver disease, early pancreatic cancer detection and applications of photon-counting and spectral CT.
- Quantitative Liver Proton Density Fat Fraction Estimation from Routine T2-Weighted MRI Using Deep Learning
- Pancreatic Cancer: Early Detection & Screening
- Opportunistic Liver Fat Screening on Routine Chest CT Using Photon-Counting CT: Prospective Validation of a CT-Derived Fat Fraction Against MRI-PDFF
- DeepUSFF, A Vision Transformer-Based Ultrasound Tool, For Noninvasive Hepatic Steatosis Grading: Multinational Validation Against MRI-PDFF
- Abdominal Pain
- Performance of Dual-Layer Spectral CT-Based Extracellular Volume Fraction to Assess Ki-67 Proliferation Status in Rectal Cancer: Comparison with Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging
Trending topics include AI for prostate MRI and cancer detection, dose-reducing reconstruction techniques and multimodality bladder cancer imaging.
- Deep Learning Image Reconstruction Enables Dual-Energy Abdominal CT with Low Radiation and Contrast Agent Doses
- Deep Learning-Based Automated PI-QUAL Assessment of Prostate Biparametric MRI
- Can AI Safely Reduce Prostate Biopsies? Real-World Performance of a CAD System
- Generalizable Prostate MRI AI Improves Cancer Detection Across Diverse Populations, Acquisitions, and Reader Experience
- Multimodality Imaging of Bladder Cancer: From Anatomy to VI-RADS
- Artificial Intelligence-Enhanced Prostate Cancer Diagnosis: From MRI Acquisition to Targeted Biopsy
Extranodal extension, AJCC 9 staging updates and prognostic imaging biomarkers are trending in this area, along with case-based core reviews of anatomy and emergency imaging.
- Threshold-Based Three-Compartment Decomposition of Routine DWI for HPV Status Prediction and Lymphoma Differentiation
- Longitudinal Habitat Analysis Of Dual-Time-Point MRI Improves Prognostic Stratification In Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
- Are We Overmonitoring Vestibular Schwannomas? Challenging the Necessity of Tracking Them All
- Case-Based Core Review of AJCC 9 Head and Neck Cancer Updates
- Why Anatomy Matters in Head and Neck Imaging: An Illustrative Case-Based Core Review
- Core Imaging of Head and Neck Emergencies
Key topics include agentic and generative AI, multimodal large language models, vendor performance claims and post-deployment monitoring.
- From Dictation to Structured Reports: Safe Prompt Engineering for Generative AI in Radiology
- Brilliant but Blind? When Multimodal LLMs Get It Right Without Looking
- Attention-Based Ensemble Fusion of CT and Radiology Report Embeddings for Prediagnostic Pancreatic Cancer Survival Prediction
- What Vendors Don't Show You: A Radiologist's Framework for Evaluating AI Performance Claims
- 2026 Year in Review of AI Models in Radiology
- Post-Deployment AI Monitoring: Integrating with Your Quality Program
Topics of interest include thyroid and breast ablation, AI-enabled procedural support and embolization for benign disease and chronic pain.
- Heterogeneity of Ablation Zone Resorption After Microwave Ablation for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
- Ultrasound-Guided Cryoablation in Treatment of Early-Stage Breast Cancer
- Pre-Procedural Review of Medications for Adrenal Ablation Using Pre-Trained Transformers
- Development of a Machine Learning Model for Predicting High Air Kerma in Cerebral Aneurysm Coil Embolization
- Embolizing Shoulder Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
- Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in Interventional Radiology
Major themes include imaging of immunotherapy and cellular therapies, whole-body MRI and PET/CT, and body composition analysis.
- Prospective Functional Bone Disease Evaluation of Newly-Diagnosed Multiple Myeloma with Combined Use of 18F-FDG-PET/CT and Multiparametric Diffusion-Weighted Whole-Body MRI
- Body Composition and Immunotherapy Outcomes: What the CT Already Tells You
- Not Just for Myeloma: Whole-Body MRI Across Disease States
- Whole Body MRI Incidental Findings
- Prognostic Role of Standardized 18F-FDG-PET/CT and Whole Body Diffusion-Weighted MRI In Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma Patients Receiving T-Cell Redirecting Therapies
- The Bispecific Antibody Era in Oncologic Imaging
Key areas of interest include AI, fast and quantitative MRI, photon-counting CT and opportunistic assessment of bone, muscle and metabolic risk.
- Photon-Counting CT With Virtual Non-Calcium Reconstruction For Quantitative Bone Marrow Edema Assessment In Acute Fractures
- Opportunistic CT Biomarkers For Abdominal Fat Stratify Disease Risk Across The Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Continuum
- Impact of Deep Learning Reconstruction and Parallel Imaging on MSK MRI Acquisition and Contribution Margin
- Opportunistic Imaging of Muscle
- Deep Learning Accelerated MRI In Muscle Injuries Of Professional Football Athletes: Enhancing Efficiency And Sustainability
- Detection of Vertebral Bone Marrow Edema with Photon-Counting CT
Trending topics include AI in stroke imaging, emerging dementia biomarkers and accelerated imaging with deep learning reconstruction.
- Improving Brain Lesion Detection at Short Scan Times Through Self-Supervised CNN Denoising Science Session
- Plasma P-Tau217 Positivity Precedes Tau-PET Positivity in Alzheimer’s Disease: Defining the Pre-Aggregation Window
- Integrating AI into Aneurysm Imaging: Benefits, Barriers, and Best Use Cases
- Feasibility of Ultra-Fast Brain MRI with Deep Learning Reconstruction for Acute Ischemic Stroke
- Prolonged Venous Transit On Perfusion Imaging Predicts Cognitive Impairment at Hospital Discharge In Large Vessel Occlusion Stroke
- AI in Stroke Imaging: From Detection to Workflow Integration
Topics generating the most interest include workforce policy, the growing role and limitations of AI in patient care, and the interplay between radiology and government policy. Look also for sessions on MRI safety information and professional advocacy.
- Medicare GME Funding and Radiology Residency Growth: Trends and Implications for Workforce Policy
- AI and Patient Care in Radiology: Promise, Practice, and Pitfalls
- Dr. AI Won't See You Now: Clinical Context Contamination Overrides Image-Based Diagnosis
- Can Chatbots Be Trusted for MRI Safety Information on Medical Implants?
- Can We Save Academic Radiology?
- Advocacy in Action: Advancing Radiology Through RSNA Government Relation
Trending topics include theranostics and PSMA-PET-guided therapy, molecular imaging in neuro-oncology and amyloid evaluation, and putting radiation safety guidelines into practice.
- Prospective Evaluation of WB-DWI MRI for Detection of Disease in Neuroendocrine Tumors: Comparison with SSTR-PET/CT
- Radiation Safety in Nuclear Medicine and Theranostics: Putting Guidelines into Practice
- Targeting Physiology Behind the Photo: Advancements In Neuro-Oncologic Molecular Imaging and Theranostics
- PSMA-PET as an Intervention to Guide Therapy: PATRON Phase 3 Randomized Trial
- Real-World Associations Among Cerebral Amyloid Measures in Patients Evaluated for Anti-Amyloid Therapies
- Are MRI Radiomic Biomarkers Qualified as Endpoints for Glioblastoma Therapy Trials?
Attendees should consider topics on endometriosis imaging, diagnostic challenges in OB/GYN imaging and multidisciplinary approaches to gynecologic disease.
- Structured MRI Reporting Of Deep Endometriosis: Clinical Impact And Reproducibility Of The Deep Pelvic Endometriosis Index (DPEI)
- Hindsight is 20/20: What Did We Miss, What Mattered, What Would We Do Differently?
- Opening Pandora’s Box: Postoperative Imaging Of Residual Endometriosis
- The Cases You Dread on the Worklist, Conquered
- Beyond the Images: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Gynecologic Disease
- Endometriosis Imaging: From Diagnosis to Personalized Care
Trending topics include pediatric AI applications, radiation-dose reduction and protocols designed to reduce the need for general anesthesia.
- Pediatric CT Radiation Dose DRLs: An Efficient Methodology Showing Substantial Reductions Since 2020
- Multiparametric MRI as a Noninvasive Biomarker for Rejection and Chronic Injury in Pediatric Kidney Transplants
- Fundamentals of Everyday Incidental Findings in Pediatric Neuroradiology
- Deep Learning Segmentation of Multiple Lines, Drains, and Airways Devices on Pediatric Chest Radiographs
- First, Without Anesthesia: A Preparation Protocol to Reduce General Anesthesia in Pediatric CNS MR
- Real-World Diagnostic Accuracy and Error Characterization of BoneView AI for Pediatric Fractures
Photon-counting CT continues to trend in this area, along with quantitative imaging, virtual imaging trials and frameworks for CT dose optimization.
- Improving the Accuracy of Spectral Applications for Ultra-Low-Dose Photon-Counting Detector CT
- Now You Have a Photon-Counting Detector CT: Best Practices
- A Decision Framework for Diagnostic Acceptability-Based CT Dose Optimization
- Scalable Development of Whole-Body in Silico Patient Populations Using Conditional Diffusion
- Technical Advances and Statistical Considerations for Quantitative CT and MRI
- Evaluating Correlation and Consistency of Agatston Scores from Low-Dose Chest CT
Trending topics include theranostics, adaptive radiotherapy and radiotherapy for benign disease, as well as radiomic and dosiomic models for predicting treatment response. Attendees will also find multidisciplinary tumor boards and masterclasses across tumor types.
- [Ga68] DOTATATE PET/MRI-Guided Fractionated Radiation Treatment Planning and Response Assessment in Meningiomas
- Anatomical Basis of Radiation Ablation of Neurologic Conditions
- Quantifying the Predictive Contribution of Radiomic and Dosiomic Features in Deep Learning Models For Recurrent Early-Stage NSCLC Treated with SBRT
- Multidisciplinary Masterclass: Learn What Your Clinicians Need to Know for Their Head & Neck Cancer Patients
- Nonoperative Management After Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy in Rectal Cancer
- Multidisciplinary Tumor Board for Prostate Cancer: Imaging to Guide Treatment Management
The latest techniques in photon-counting CT angiography, low-contrast and low-dose protocols, and AI-assisted aortic measurement and pulmonary embolism triage are trending in this area.
- Bicuspid Aortic Valve Is Associated with Accelerated Aortic Dilation and Adverse Cardiovascular Events in Turner Syndrome
- Reproducibility of AI-Assisted Aortic Metrics in Loeys-Dietz Syndrome Across CT/MR Modalities
- Less Is More When You Mix It Right: Mixed-Bolus Low-Contrast Protocol for Photon-Counting CTA
- Impact of AI-Enabled Triage and Prioritization Software for Pulmonary Embolism
- Infected Aortic Disease on CT: A Practical Imaging Approach
- Thoracic Vascular Dilation Thresholds and Criteria
Areas of interest include safe and efficient remote MR scanning, MRI safety workflows, clinical leadership and the use of generative and agentic AI in practice.
- Unlocking Capacity: Impact of a Hybrid Remote Technologist Scanning Model on MRI Operational Capacity, Financial Sustainability, and Backlog Mitigation
- Lessons from the Incident Log
- MRI Safety Evaluation Workflow in Practice
- More Than Management: Building Clinical Leadership Capability in Imaging for Impact, Quality, and Personal Growth
- The Frontier Practice: Turning Generative and Agentic AI into Real Practice Value
- Impact of In-Situ Code Simulation in the MRI Environment
Trending topics include APP practice models, hands-on sonography instruction and patient management before, during and after procedures.
- APP Roles within Radiology
- Sonography for APPs Part 1: A How to Education Session
- Sonography for APPs Part 2: Ultrasound-Guided MSK Procedures (Advanced)
- Pediatric Fluoro Essentials for APPs and Other Imaging Professionals
- Managing Radiology Patients Pre-Procedure Using Advanced Practice Providers
- Managing Radiology Patients Intra and Post Procedure Using Advanced Practice Providers
Annual Meeting Program Planning Committee
Information for this preview was provided by Annual Meeting Program Planning Committee members.
Kate Hanneman, MD, MPH, chair
Vinay Prabhu, MD, MS, vice chair
Breast Imaging
Katja Pinker-Domenig, MD, PhD, chair
Beatriz E. Adrada, MD
Alexandra Athanasiou, MD, MSc
Cherie M. Kuzmiak, DO
Vilert A. Loving, MD, MMM
Derek L. Nguyen, MD
Cardiac Imaging
Michael F. Morris, MD, chair
Cristina Fuss, MD, PhD
Diana Litmanovich, MD
Ming-Yen Ng, BMBS, FRCR
Elsie Nguyen, MD, FRCPC
Rozemarijn Vliegenthart, MD, PhD
Chest Imaging
Carol C. Wu, MD, chair
Saurabh Agarwal, MD
Jin Mo Goo, MD, PhD
Linda B. Haramati, MD, MS
Anastasia Oikonomou, MD, PhD
Claudio Silva, MD.MSc
Emergency Radiology
Christina A. LeBedis,MD, MS, chair
Anjali Agrawal, MD
Lee A. Myers, MD
John P. Nazarian, MD
Koenraad H. Nieboer, MD
Sameer B. Raniga, FRCR, MD
Gastrointestinal Imaging
Avinash R. Kambadakone, FRCR, MD, chair
Lauren M. Burke, MD
Alessandro Furlan, MMM, MD
Aya Kamaya, MD
Jang Min Lee, MD, PhD
Motoyo Yano, MD, PhD
Genitourinary Imaging
Atul B. Shinagare, MD, chair
Helen C. Addley, BMBCh, FRCR
Silvia D. Chang, MD, FRCPC
Lyndon Luk, MD
Kerry L. Thomas, MD
Angela Tong, MD
Head & Neck Imaging
Xin Wu, MD, chair
Paul M. Bunch, MD
Maria Gule-Monroe, MD
Burce Ozgen Mocan, MD
Osamu Sakai, MD, PhD
David Zander, MD
Imaging Informatics
Marta E. Heilbrun, MD, MS, chair
Imon Banerjee, PhD
Dania Daye, MD, PhD
Ayis T. Pyrros, MD
Pouria Rouzrokh, MD, MPH
Dorothy A. Sippo, MD, MPH
Interventional Radiology
Rony Avritscher, MD, chair
Juan C. Camacho Vasquez, MD
Amy R. Deipolyi, MD, PhD
Charles Y. Kim, MD
Gloria M. Salazar, MD
Lynn J. Savic, MD
Multisystem
Nariman Nezami, MD, chair
Lisa C. Adams, MD, PhD
Yashant Aswani, MD
Ichiro Ikuta, MD, MMedSc
Stacy E. Smith, MD
Sadhna Verma, MD, MBA
Musculoskeletal Imaging
Soterios Gyftopoulos, MBA, MD, chair
Shivani Ahlawat, MD
Hillary W. Garner, MD
Andrew J. Grainger, MD
Reto Sutter, MD
Emma L. Rowbotham, FRCR
Neuroradiology
Achala S. Vagal, MD, chair
Mohit Agarwal, MD
Hediyeh Baradaran, MD, MS
Peter G. Kranz, MD
Nancy Pham, MD
Carlos H. Torres, FRCPC, MD
Noninterpretive Skills (Beyond Imaging)
Vinay Prabhu, MBBS, MS, chair
Melissa A. Davis, MBA, MD
Efren J. Flores, MD
Jessica G. Fried, MD
Jeffrey G. Jarvik, MD, MPH
Kathryn P. Lowry, MD
Jay R. Parikh, FRCPC, MD
Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging
Esma A. Akin, MD, chair
Joanna R. Fair, MD, PhD
Pedram Heidari, MD
Phillip H. Kuo, MD, PhD
Helen R. Nadel, MD, FRCPC
Aileen O’Shea, MBBCh
OB/Gynecology
Liina Poder, MD, chair
Nicole M. Hindman, MD
Priyanka Jha, MBBS
Edward R. Oliver, MD, PhD
Catherine R. Phillips, MD
Elizabeth A. Sadowski, MD
Pediatric Imaging
Marcelo S. Takahashi, MD, PhD, chair
Pablo Caro-Dominguez, MD
Govind B. Chavhan, MD
Winnie C. Chu, FRCR, MD
Emilio Inarejos Clemente, MD
Teresa Victoria, MD, PhD
Physics
Lifeng Yu, PhD, chair
Grace J. Gang, PhD
James M. Kofler Jr., PhD
Ke Li, PhD
Zheng Feng Lu, PhD
Ioannis Sechopoulos, PhD
Radiation Oncology
Simon S. Lo, MBChB, chair
Michelle S. Ginsberg, MD
Anca L. Grosu, MD
Edward Y. Kim, MD
Tarita O. Thomas, MD, PhD
Meng X. Welliver, MD, PhD
Vascular Imaging
Nicholas S. Burris MD, chair
Bradley D. Allen, MD, MS
Kacie Kuykendall, MD
Brian P. Pogatchnik, MD
Dominika Sucha, MD, PhD
Daniel Vargas, MD