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Top Trends at ECR 2026, DBT Screening in Europe, and AI Breakthrough
March 9, 2026
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Together with
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“What you’re seeing is that 2026 is what I term the Year of the Foundation Model. We’re seeing excitement about general-purpose AI models moving into the radiology space.”
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Christoph Wald, MD, MBA, from this year’s ECR 2026.
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The 2026 edition of the European Congress of Radiology wrapped up last week, and both clinical and business news dominated the discussion in Vienna.
Below are the top trends from ECR 2026…
- AI Consolidation Heats Up: ECR week saw no fewer than three merger/acquisition agreements between AI developers, a sign that consolidation in the segment is heating up. DeepHealth acquired Gleamer, Sectra bought Oxipit, and Medimaps and Radiobotics agreed to merge, indicating that a major shakeup could be in the offing as venture capital funding shifts toward larger AI players and smaller firms struggle for relevance.
- Mammography AI Nears Real-World Implementation: Large-scale prospective studies like MASAI demonstrated the ability of mammography AI to reduce radiologists’ workloads and improve their interpretive performance. ECR attendees learned of new AI applications for breast screening – like image-based risk assessment – that move AI ever closer to real-world implementation.
- CT Lung Cancer Screening Ramps Up: Numerous European countries are rolling out population-based CT lung cancer screening programs, and a number of ECR presentations discussed the progress being made as well as technologies like AI that can make lung screening more effective.
- ECR As a Vendor Showcase: In terms of vendor news, ECR has always operated in the shadow of radiology’s largest conference, RSNA, but this year’s meeting showed that may be changing. AI companies timed a raft of M&A announcements with ECR 2026, and other vendors coordinated product launches for the Vienna meeting.
- Radiology Refines Sustainability Message: Environmental sustainability and how to reduce radiology’s global footprint was a major theme at ECR 2025, and that carried over to ECR 2026. Vendors are offering new solutions like helium-free MRI scanners, while researchers are showing how power-saving scanning protocols can help radiology save patients and the planet at the same time.
- Geopolitical Turmoil Affects Attendance: Ongoing geopolitical turmoil definitely affected attendance at ECR 2026 as flights from the Middle East and India to Europe were canceled during the meeting. But as with the weather delays at RSNA 2025, conference proceedings continued on and the halls of Austria Center Vienna seemed as crowded as in past years.
The Takeaway
Last week’s ECR 2026 cemented the meeting’s reputation as a European counterpoint to radiology’s other major conference, RSNA. In some areas like mammography AI and CT lung cancer screening, European radiologists are moving ahead of their colleagues across the Atlantic.
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- MASAI Results Dominate ECR Sessions: Recent results from the landmark MASAI trial of AI for mammography dominated scientific sessions on March 5 at ECR 2026. Researchers gave more details on recent MASAI findings on interval cancers, finding no statistically significant difference between AI-supported interpretation and radiologist double-reading in terms of types of interval cancers missed (such as true negatives or cancers visible on retrospective review). But interval cancers did have elevated AI-generated risk scores.
- X-Ray AI Triages Chest Studies: In a Saturday ECR 2026 session on late-breaking clinical trials, Harrison.ai’s Annalise CXR Enterprise AI algorithm was shown to help triage 56.3k chest X-ray exams for possible lung cancer in the NHS system. AI reduced the time to CT referral, with the time to a completed CT report falling by 40% (from 6 to 3.6 days) and deprioritizing 19% of cases. Separately, Harrison got 510(k) clearance for its AI solution to detect acute infarct triage on non-contrast CT brain scans, the company’s second clearance under the FDA’s Breakthrough Designation regulatory pathway.
- MRI AI Detects Alzheimer’s Disease: In another talk from the same late-breaking ECR session, GeodAIsics’ BrainGML AD algorithm was used to analyze MRI scans for suspected Alzheimer’s disease in 276 cases. AI correctly classified 80% of Alzheimer’s cases, with 93% sensitivity and 70% specificity. It also had high agreement with cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers (97%).
- Screening Mammography Recall Rate Rises: A massive review of Ireland’s national breast screening program presented at ECR 2026 found the recall rate rose steadily over time. Among the 2M cases reviewed over three time periods (2000-2008, 2009-2017, and 2018-2019), the percentage of cases recalled steadily rose (5.5%, 8%, and 10%, respectively). The cancer detection rate rose for both initial and subsequent screening rounds, but the program’s overall positive predictive value remained the same. Researchers recommended discussions between stakeholders to find optimal recall rates.
- DBT Screening Tested in Europe: Europe hasn’t adopted DBT for breast cancer screening as quickly as the U.S. So ECR 2026 attendees were intrigued to hear about the STREAM test of DBT screening in the Netherlands. Among 113k women in the first of two screening rounds, those who got DBT saw a higher cancer detection rate per 1k women compared to conventional digital mammography (9.1 vs. 7 cancers) but a higher recall rate as well (27 vs. 24 recalls). STREAM researchers will next focus on data for interval cancers and the second screening round.
- Why Are Cancers Missed on Breast Screening? Why are some breast cancers missed on mammography screening, and what can be done about it? In the PINK study presented at ECR 2026, researchers from Italy analyzed cases from 29.4k women, finding that 19% of surgically confirmed breast cancers were not visible on X-ray mammography but could be seen on supplemental modalities like ultrasound, DBT, and MRI. Supplemental imaging should be considered for younger women, those with dense breasts, and invasive histology.
- Early Results from MammoWave System: On the subject of alternative breast imaging technologies, ECR 2026 attendees heard data from the MammoScreen trial of MammoWave, a prototype system that produces radiofrequency images that are analyzed by AI. In a trial with the first 3k volunteers, MammoWave had sensitivity of 67% (80% in dense breasts) and specificity of 81% (80% in dense breasts). Researchers believe the system’s sensitivity could use further improvement and are looking forward to final results from the full trial of 10k women.
- How Prevalent Is BAC on Mammograms? Breast arterial calcifications on screening mammograms can be an early sign of heart disease in women. In a talk at ECR 2026, Swiss researchers used AI to analyze screening mammograms for 4.7k women for BAC, finding that 14% had calcifications. AI-based automated BAC detection could be embedded into mammography screening, providing a low-cost method for opportunistic detection of heart disease.
- Lunit Touts ECR Studies: Lunit highlighted 21 research presentations using its AI technology at last week’s ECR 2026 conference. The talks featured 13 oral presentations, including a paper by Italian researchers who used Lunit’s Insight MMG algorithm for breast cancer risk prediction in 67.7k women, finding risk scores rising dramatically for 451 women. Another paper from the U.K. applied Insight MMG to identifying interval breast cancers, while another applied the company’s Scorecard algorithm (previously Volpara) to women with extremely dense breast tissue to see if they needed breast MRI.
- Fujifilm Launches Helium-Free MRI, Ultrasound at ECR: Fujifilm Healthcare Europe made several product launches at last week’s ECR 2026 conference, including helium-free MRI scanners and a new ultrasound platform. The Echelon ZeroHelium scanners are at 1.5T field strengths and include wide-bore and conventional-bore models. The systems are shipping globally but not yet in the U.S. Meanwhile, the Arietta DeepInsight x ultrasound line includes Arietta 850 DeepInsight x, Arietta 750 DeepInsight x, and Arietta 650 DeepInsight x models, all of which feature improved image clarity and uniformity for in-depth imaging.
- CARPL Connects with U.K.’s Medica: AI platform company CARPL signed a partnership with Medica Group, the leading teleradiology provider in the U.K. and Ireland. Medica will use CARPL’s platform to test and evaluate AI algorithms before they move into routine clinical use, with the first solution covered by the partnership being Radiobotics’ RBfracture tool for fracture detection. Medica is also using CARPL as an integration and orchestration layer for AI vendors with whom it maintains independent relationships.
- Mosaic Gets Breakthrough Designation: Mosaic Clinical Technologies received FDA Breakthrough Designation for Cognita Chest X-Ray, a generative vision language model its Cognita Imaging business unit is developing to analyze chest X-rays. Cognita CXR applies VLM technology to analyze radiographs and draft reports for radiologist review, with the goal of saving radiologists time while improving diagnostic efficacy. Mosaic last fall acquired Cognita Imaging, a spin-off of Stanford University.
- Bayer Nabs Expanded Medrad Clearance: Bayer received FDA 510(k) clearance for expanded capabilities on its Medrad MRXperion MRI contrast injection system. The clearance supports use of MRXperion on scanners with field strengths up to 7 tesla, and it also covers Imaging Scanner Interface 2 capability, which enables communication between the injector and MRI scanners, improving exam coordination and supporting better efficiency.
- Breast MRI Benefits High-Risk Women: The combination of AI and abbreviated scanning protocols is making breast MRI screening a possibility for higher-risk women. In a modeling analysis in Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers found that adding breast MRI screening to DBT for women with extremely dense tissue and ≥ 2X the average breast cancer risk could be as cost-effective as biennial DBT alone, assuming breast MRI costs are reduced. The findings can help clinicians hone in on which women should receive supplemental breast MRI screening.
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- A Passion for Change: United Imaging’s passion for change was on display at RSNA 2025 with the launch of new products across multiple modalities, including the new uSonique ultrasound family shown as works-in-progress. Find out what drives the company on this page.
- Meet Medicom at HIMSS 2026: Learn how medical image exchange solutions from Medicom can help you reduce clinical friction in this presentation at HIMSS 2026 by founder and CEO Michael Rosenberg on March 11 at 2 pm PT in the AWS In-Booth Theater booth #1823.
- Leadership in Life Sciences: Quibim is committed to accelerating its development within the life sciences sector and strengthening collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies. Learn about recent leadership developments that are moving the company forward.
- Radiology Automation Simplified: CARPL is an enterprise-grade radiology AI validation and deployment platform with 250+ AI applications across 85+ AI vendors that empowers healthcare providers to access, assess, and securely integrate imaging AI in their practice. Book a demo today.
- Five Years Into the Cloud – And Just Getting Started: John Muir Health in California needed help dealing with its data deluge, which became acute with the adoption of 3D breast tomosynthesis. Find out how they turned to Sectra and its cloud-based enterprise imaging management for a solution.
- Driving Efficiency in Radiology: Radiology’s workforce is under pressure. Discover evidence-based strategies for driving efficiency without burning out your staff in this e-book from Riverain Technologies.
- Elevating Breast Cancer Detection: Breast Suite from DeepHealth is a new package of AI-powered solutions delivering increased breast cancer detection rates, risk stratification tools, and viewing and reporting workflow acceleration. Find out how it can benefit your practice today.
- Cut Repetitive Manual Tasks: Discover how Rad AI’s radiology reporting software helps you speak less and say more by reducing dictation times up to 50% and words dictated up to 90%. Join 9 of the top 10 radiology practices using Rad AI to improve efficiency.
- A New Era of Imaging Technology: MosaicOS is the cloud-native and AI-native operating system from Mosaic Clinical Technologies designed to expand capacity, cut reporting time, and deliver faster, smarter patient care. Discover how it can improve your radiology operations today.
- Meet with Visage at HIMSS 2026: Visage Imaging is not only leading imaging’s move to the cloud, they’ve defined it with their Visage 7 CloudPACS solution, which provides unparalleled speed and interpretation efficiency. Discover how Visage 7 can help you by booking a priority demo at HIMSS 2026 or drop by at booth #3753.
- A Global Customer Reach: Mach7 Technologies serves a diverse range of healthcare organizations worldwide, from large integrated delivery networks to smaller community hospitals and imaging centers. Learn what Mach7 can do for you.
- Transform Your Workflow with Intelligent Imaging: Radiology departments face growing challenges: higher workloads, fewer staff, and tighter budgets. Discover how intelligent imaging technology from Siemens Healthineers streamlines processes, reduces stress, and improves outcomes. Access the white paper now and transform your workflow.
- Reimagining Radiology Operations: Kailo Medical’s KailoFlow reimagines radiology operations. By combining intelligent automation, modular AI-driven insights, and seamless integration, KailoFlow empowers radiology teams to work faster, smarter, and more consistently. Request a demo today.
- Meet Merge at HIMSS 2026: Built with clinical and technical expertise, guided by customer insights, and personalized to your needs, Merge imaging solutions deliver reliable imaging, less complexity, and better care. Schedule a HIMSS 2026 meeting to see how Merge can help you meet your goals.
- AI Echo for Pulmonary Hypertension Assessment: Pulmonary hypertension requires careful evaluation with echocardiography, but traditional manual interpretation is time-consuming. Read this paper on how Us2.ai’s AI echo technology powered a fully automated deep learning workflow.
- A Best in KLAS Hat Trick: AGFA HealthCare was named Best in KLAS in three enterprise imaging segments this year: PACS under 300k studies, universal viewer, and vendor-neutral archive. Find out what makes customers keep coming back on this page.
- Book a Meeting with Enlitic at HIMSS 2026: Enlitic empowers healthcare systems to leverage AI to enhance the quality of their medical imaging data. Learn how they can help make your data work for you by booking at meeting at HIMSS 2026, or visit them at booth #5337.
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