As chairman of the European Association of Nuclear Medi cine (EANM) 2001 annual meeting, I tried to reach two goals: a "universal nuclear medicine" congress where all people could speak and learn using the same language, and a full exploration of the possibility of making a diagnosis through global imaging. I am personally convinced that nuclear med icine techniques in the detection of infection and inflamma tion are essential, and in the near future their role and clinical impact will be impressive. As stated during the meeting, this topic will be one of the major and expanding fields of...