About 100 participants and international experts from medicine, science, and industry discussed the potential of ultrasound technologies and solutions for medical diagnosis and therapy at the Charité Berlin in a 2-day symposium and a 1-day expert meeting on January 17–19, 2018.

The recent years have shown the tremendous advancement of medical ultrasound in terms of image quality, image resolution, device miniaturization, specific contrast agents, therapeutic approaches, and a number of microstructural imaging techniques including shearwave elastography.

The international symposium “New Horizons: The Future of Medical Ultrasound” addressed the current state and future potential of ultrasound technologies and solutions for medical diagnosis and therapy, bringing together leading experts in the field from Europe and abroad.

Following the opening session by the symposium chairs Prof. Thomas Fischer (Charité Ultrasound Center) and Prof. Horst Hahn (Fraunhofer MEVIS) together with Prof. Bernd Hamm (Director of Radiology at Charité) and Prof. Hans Maier (Board of Fraunhofer MEVIS), 22 invited international speakers presented current developments and future perspectives on hardware, software, agents, and applications for medical ultrasound. The 2-day symposium on January 17–18 was structured in five sessions:

• Ultrasound Physics
• Novel Applications and Therapeutic Ultrasound
• Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound
• Autonomous and Multiparametric Ultrasound
• Contrast Agents and Theranostics

An open plenary forum provided an opportunity to exchange and discuss the presented topics and perspectives. Special sessions offered guided tours to the newly designed Ultrasound Center of the Charité and the Berlin Museum of Medical History at the Charité.

In a 1-day expert meeting for invited participants on Friday, January 19, international experts from medicine, science, and industry discussed strategic issues behind medical ultrasound as well as the research and development agenda for the next decade.

The symposium was organized in cooperation between the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ultraschall of the Deutsche Röntgengesellschaft e. V., the Ultrasound Center of the Charité, and Fraunhofer MEVIS. It took place in the reconstructed ruin of Charité’s former Rudolf Virchow lecture hall with its unique historic charm. The symposium was certified by Ärztekammer Berlin with 8 CME points category A.