As the year comes to an end, the CIRSE community can look back at one of its most successful years yet and I would like to take a minute to reflect on the many accomplishments we have achieved together in 2025.
Further pursuing the CIRSE Vison for Interventional Radiology, the Clinical Services in IR Task Force created numerous tools to support practitioners, such as educational videos, two CIRSE Library topic packages on clinical involvement, and a dedicated CIRSE Academy course, among others. Many thanks to Andreas Mahnken and his task force for their wonderful work! They have now handed the baton to a new task force which will focus on the second priority of the CIRSE vision; therapies and treatment.
In the fall, we established two new task forces to support the further development of interventional radiology in Africa and Eastern Europe, a topic that is particularly close to my heart. In support of integrating emerging technologies into future activities, a dedicated AI Subcommittee was created.
2025 was also a year of exciting congresses and meetings. ECIO 2025 set new standards in interventional oncology with numerous scientific sessions to discuss the latest study results, present the concepts for upcoming trials, and stimulate further research projects. In May, the biannual International Conference on Complications in Interventional Radiology – ICCIR – once again provided the very important opportunity to discuss procedures that did not go according to plan and how we can learn from them. ET 2025 was another great success this year, with interventionists from around the globe convening in Porto to discuss everything embolotherapy, from clinical outcomes to the latest data and emerging applications. One day prior to ET 2025, I was happy to host the second European IR Leadership Meeting bringing together the presidents and board members of the European IR societies to discuss how we can work together even more closely in the future to push our specialty forward.
In September, a record number of healthcare professionals flocked to Barcelona for CIRSE 2025, to celebrate CIRSE’s 40-year anniversary under the very fitting slogan “40 years of pioneering progress”. The number and quality of the sessions was unparalleled, and I would like to thank the more than 500 international experts who shared their knowledge as speakers, moderators, and workshop coordinators from the bottom of my heart for making this happen.
All of this year’s congresses are now freely available to our members via the CIRSE Library. In addition, the annual congresses of several of our group members are now also available there, including IROS, SERVEI, and BSIR 2025. I think this is a fantastic way of bringing our community even closer together and offering relevant content in various languages. Another important part of CIRSE’s online education portfolio – the CIRSE Academy – also significantly widened its offering and now covers the entire IR curriculum.
To provide continuing education throughout the year, the European School of Interventional Radiology – ESIR – offered ten clinical practice courses on a great variety of topics ranging from thyroid ablation to liquid embolization, and many more. A course of particular interest this year was a new course format on the modern multidisciplinary tumour board organized in collaboration with IASIOS. Featuring hands-on communications training, this course was a fantastic opportunity for interventional radiologists to strengthen their communications skills helping them get the attention they deserve within the MDT.
The possibility for our members to apply for a fellowship grant provided another fantastic opportunity to interested IRs to widen their experience at a European Centre of Excellence outside their home country. Applications for the 2026 funding cycle will be accepted until February 9, and I strongly encourage all interested parties to apply.
As equal access to healthcare is at the heart of CIRSE’s mission, I am very proud that we were able to attract a major private donation which will allow us to finance projects supporting the development of IR in Eastern Europe and Africa over the next ten years. Many thanks to the donor of the Gehrig-Pereira Grant which we hope will be a gamechanger. Two task forces are currently working on the project outlines and initiatives to be funded with these grants. I am hopeful that this activity will allow us to make a sustainable contribution to access to IR care in many countries, and that more private donors but also our industry partners will join our efforts in the future.
The International Accreditation System for Interventional Oncology Services – IASIOS – also made great strides in 2025. Membership grew steadily and now comprises 91 centres from 29 countries with Hong Kong, Canada, Spain, and Austria joining the ranks. 13 centres reached accreditation, and I am particularly happy to announce that four centres reached Centre of Excellence status. I would like to thank Boston Scientific to believe in our vision and sponsoring the First Year Forward Grant allowing five centres to enrol this year and accepting a second round of grants.
To support IRs in the certification of their knowledge of interventional oncology, CIRSE established a new EBIR certificate; the EBIR-IO. This is another important step in certifying expertise and I encourage all specialists to check out the eligibility requirements. Together with the European Board of Interventional Radiology (EBIR) and the EBIR-ES for endovascular specialists, the number of EBIR-certified specialists around the world will soon hit the 2,000 mark.
CIRSE’s contract research organization Next Research launched three new studies; ORACLE, BRIGHT, and RESCUE to collect data on orbital atherectomy for lesion preparation in patients with CLI, bleeding reduction in grade II-III haemorrhoids through embolization, and resorbable scaffolds with everolimus-elution for the treatment of infrapopliteal artery disease respectively. I am very excited about these projects and look forward to seeing them progress.
2025 also saw the establishment of the latest addition to our journal family – CVIR Oncology – an open-access platform under the leadership of Thomas Helmberger which will provide an important stage for publishing in interventional oncology. After eight years at the helm of CVIR Endovascular, its founding editor-in-chief Jim Reekers passed the baton to Rob Morgan. CVIR Editor-in-Chief Klaus Hausegger retired as the leading force of CIRSE’s flagship journal and passed this important task on to Tiago Bilhim. I sincerely thank the parting EICs for their tireless work for the journals which constitute such an integral part of our society’s activities.
Another milestone I was particularly happy to celebrate this year has been that our community is now 10,000 members strong including healthcare professionals from 95 countries. With the support of so many dedicated physicians, nurses, and corporate partners, and the excellent work of the CIRSE office, I am confident that we will be able to further widen the scope of our initiatives in the years to come.
Philippe Pereira
CIRSE President