The American College of Radiology's 2026 Annual Meeting is in its third day Monday at the Washington Hilton, with the program running Saturday May 2 through Wednesday May 6 and a registered attendance of nearly 3,000 radiologists, medical physicists, and practice leaders. [1] The Advanced Medical Technology Association's request to the White House for a delay on privatization of helium-supply infrastructure is the side ledger the conference floor either picks up or quietly drops. [2]

The paper's Sunday brief said the test this week is whether ACR's floor or AMTA's letter forces a Project Vault helium amendment. Two days into the meeting, the test remains open. The clinical program — AI governance, breast-screening updates, contrast-agent policy — gives no platform-level slot to helium supply. [3] The advocacy program does. ACR's congressional-visit day Tuesday is the natural forcing point.

The reserve sold by the Bureau of Land Management to Messer in 2024 was dropped from the 2025 critical-minerals list and skipped by Project Vault even after the Iran-war energy crisis recreated the cryogenic-supply pressure the reserve was originally built to absorb. [2] An MRI scanner without liquid helium is a very expensive paperweight; the meeting that knows this best is the one in Washington this week.

-- DARA OSEI, London