The subspecialty of gastrointestinal and abdominal radiology has been recognised for many years. In 1988, at the British Institute of Radiology Meeting in Glasgow, the founding of a European Society as an equivalent to the American Society of Gastrointestinal Radiologists was discussed in order to create a forum for the large number of radiologists in Europe working in this sub-speciality. In 1989, a founding meeting was held in Paris which laid down the essential rules and objectives of the Society and elected the first Officers of the Society under the presidency of Daniel Nolan.

At the time of its foundation the Society was named "The European Society of Gastrointestinal Radiologists". The first meeting took place under the meeting presidency of Nicholas Gourtsoyiannis in Crete in 1990. The constitution was debated and approved at the Annual Meeting in Oxford in 1991. As the Society grew and developed, it became clear that its organisation needed to be strengthened. Thus a working group met in Paris in 1994 to produce draft by-laws aimed particularly at improving continuity. The new by-laws were adopted by the General Assembly in Taormina in 1994. In recognition of the role of the Society in all modalities of imaging of the gastrointestinal tract and its associated abdominal organs, the name of the Society was changed to "The European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology" at the same meeting. In the following year, "European Radiology" was adopted as the official journal of the Society at the meeting in Brussels. This journal now publishes the abstracts of the scientific presentations given at annual meetings.

Over the past years, the Society has progressively increased its number of members, which has risen to 816 in 2009. In order to attract young members, a Junior membership was adopted by the General Assembly in 2004. As a European Subspecialty Society, ESGAR is an institutional member of the European Society of Radiology (ESR).

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