Xenia Forsselliana 2015

The Xenia Forsselliana Fund was established in 1941, based on a sum of money given on the occasion of the celebration of the 65th birthday of Gösta Forssell. The aim of the fund was to promote radiological research. In 1992, it was decided that a prize from this fund should be awarded annually for the best article from one of the Nordic radiological institutions published in Acta Radiologica that year. The prize was awarded for the first time in 1992 and has been awarded annually since then.

Each member of our editorial board was asked to nominate three articles which they considered to be among the best articles published that year. This list of nominated articles was then sent to each of the editors who were asked to vote on three of the nominated papers qualified for the prize based on pure qualification criteria only. After the first voting round, three articles remained and a new vote had to take place. In the final round, the article by Dr Mats Andersson (Fig. 1) from the Department of Radiology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden was given the majority of the votes and hence was elected as the Xenia Forsselliana Prize winner of 2015. The title of the prize-winning article is “Improved outcome with combined US/CT guidance as compared to US guidance in percutaneous radiofrequency ablation of small renal masses (1). OPEN IN VIEWER

Mats Andersson is currently a consultant at the Department of Radiology at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden. He was educated at the Medical School, University of Lund, Sweden in 1982. In 1983–1984 he was employed in a rotating internship at the Hospital of Eksjö, Sweden, and thereafter as an ordinary resident at the Department of Radiology, Västervik County Hospital (1985–1988). After that period, he moved to Gothenburg and the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, first as a registrar (1988–1992) and from 1992 to date as a consultant. Dr Andersson was certified as a specialist in Diagnostic Radiology in 1989. He defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Gothenburg in 2008 entitled “Radiological evaluation of esophageal function in dysphagia with special emphasis on achalasia.”

In addition to his doctoral thesis, Dr Andersson is the author and co-author of 15 scientific articles published in peer-review journals. He is also co-author of chapters in two books, as well as the co-author of three different National Clinical Guidelines: Liver cell carcinoma (2015), Pancreatic carcinoma (2012), and finally Colorectal carcinoma, chapter on liver metastases (2016). Almost half of his peer-reviewed publications have been related to diagnosis and treatment of liver and pancreatic carcinomas.

In 2010, Dr Andersson published his first article of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation (2) where the purpose was to analyze results and factors predictive of incomplete ablation and local recurrence when ultrasound was used as guidance.

In his now prize-winning paper they went a step further and compared the outcome of radiofrequency ablation when combined ultrasound and CT was used compared to ultrasound guidance alone. The material included patients with renal masses measuring in the range of 13–50 mm in size during the period November 2009 to November 2013 that underwent radiofrequency ablation guided by combined ultrasound and CT guidance. The technical success rate, recurrence-free survival, rate of complications, and the percentage change in the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were compared with patients undergoing such ablation guided by ultrasound only in the period November 2002 to December 2008.

The tumor and patient characteristics were similar between the two groups. They found that the primary and secondary technical success was significantly higher in the group treated with combined US/CT guidance compared with the group treated with US guidance alone. The local recurrence-free survival was significantly better in the combined group compared to the US alone group. There was no significant difference in the rate of overall complications or the mean percentage decrease in eGFR after the respective treatments. The authors could conclude: “The use of combined US/CT guidance when performing renal RFA resulted in superior primary and short-term outcome compared to the use of US guidance alone in patients treated at the same institution.”

The prize consists of SEK 20,000 and a Diploma. The official presentation of this award will take place during the Nordic Congress of Radiology in Reykjavik, Iceland, 29 June to 1 July 2017. The prize-winning paper will be presented orally at the Acta Radiologica Seminar during the meeting together with the prize-winning paper from 2016.

The editorial board congratulates Dr Andersson for the prize.