title: What is the message of a meeting? Analysis and comparison of the 2458 abstracts of the EANM/WCNMB congress in Berlin and the SNM meeting in Toronto in 1998. European Association of Nuclear Medicine/World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology, and the Society of Nuclear Medicine.
abstract: The abstracts of the joint congress of EANM/WCNMB in Berlin 1998 and of the 45th Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine in Toronto 1998 have been analysed and compared in terms of comprehensibility, composition, questions at issue, methods, patient/subject number, type of conclusion and duplication of information between the meetings. All 1362 and 1096 abstracts, respectively, were analysed from the abstract books with regard to ten "hard" and four "soft" variables. The dominant topics were new radiopharmaceuticals, methods of synthesis, examination methods, evaluation of examinations, investigation algorithms, technical devices and novel use of radiopharmaceuticals. In addition to these topics, there were numerous reports about established radiopharmaceuticals and techniques, often without a specific merit mentioned. There were also many abstracts with questions outside nuclear medicine, but using such techniques. Few papers reported negative findings or dealt with quality assurance, dosimetry, and cost-effectiveness. Many of the conclusions contained hyperbole. Some abstracts were very extensive and detailed. Sixty-seven contributions conveyed identical information at both meetings. Structured and/or paragraphed abstracts promote clarity and reduce the number of lines that need to be read in order to comprehend the background and aim of the abstract. Such contributions were more frequent at the EANM/WCNMB congress while the SNM meeting covered a wider field with a greater representation of radiophysics, instrumentation, and computer evaluations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. hans.jacobsson@nucmed.ks.se
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jacobsson
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grybäck
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Larsson
mesh_terms: D000043:Abstracting and Indexing; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D009683:Nuclear Medicine; D012955:Societies, Medical