'Manhattan Project' emphasizes cardiac CT, MR training
A handful of radiologists are spearheading a drive to ensure that the specialty does not lose cardiac CT and MR imaging, the way it let nuclear and echocardiology slip away. It is dubbed the "Manhattan Project" to highlight time pressure, level of importance, and need for a concentrated effort to deliver results.
"Enabled by high-speed scanning technology embedded in new CT and MR equipment, cardiac imaging has reached a level of clinical utility ready for prime time," said Dr. Dieter R. Enzmann, radiology chair at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Enzmann is a main force behind the project, which is backed by the Society of Chairmen in Academic Radiology Departments (SCARD). The Manhattan Project will be fueled by cardiac CT and MR training sites at academic medical centers around the country. A few sites are already operational, with the full project being launched later this year, he said.
Each site will offer hands-on, didactic, and teaching file educational opportunities for radiologists, technologists, and cardiologists who have formed a collaborative relationship with their radiology colleagues. The training programs will have a minimum requirement of five days.
SCARD wants radiology departments to commit to sending at least one faculty member to a training site this year and radiology residency programs to send their residents through training within the next two years. More information about the project will be available at www.scardonline.org.
A similar effort to raise the visibility of cardiac imaging by the North American Society for Cardiac Imaging has resulted in a change to the oral boards. Last year, the American Board of Radiology initiated a pilot "virtual examination" in cardiac imaging, including cardiopulmonary, nuclear, pediatric, and interventional radiology. The cases were selected and included in the score as part of the usual exam, but a separate score in cardiac was not officially recorded. This year, however, cardiac cases will be officially scored as a virtual cardiac exam, according to Dr. Kay Vydareny, head of the cardiopulmonary section of the ABR.
"Residents should be competent in cardiac imaging since they will likely be performing cardiac imaging in some form in their future practices," Vydareny said.
