Cardiac Imaging Training (Imaging Village)
Hands-on, practical training opportunities with expert imagers covering the full range of contemporary cardiac imaging modalities
Dr Jamal Khan
2024 BCS Annual Conference Imaging Village Lead
We look forward to offering unique training opportunities in Cardiac Imaging to colleagues from a wide range of backgrounds and grades at the 2024 BCS Annual Conference Education Zone ‘Imaging Village’. Our audience includes:
(1) Those practicing in Cardiology: Cardiology SHOs/IMTs, Cardiology SpRs/IMT3/ST3-8, Cardiology Clinical Fellows, Consultant Cardiologists
(2) A wide range of non-Cardiology doctors: Radiology SpRs/Consultants, Acute Medicine SpRs/Consultants, Nuclear Medicine Physicians, Intensive Care/Anaesthetics Doctors, General Practitioners
(3) A wide range of allied health professionals: Cardiac Clinical Physiologists, Cardiac Radiographers, Cardiology Nurses
The ‘Imaging Village’ will be an exciting and dynamic section of the Education Zone offering bespoke, personalised 1:1 and 1:2 sessions to allow you to gain experience in multimodality cardiac imaging delivered by a highly experienced expert clinical practitioner and industry representative.
The full range of multimodality cardiac imaging will be on offer, catering to all levels of experience from beginners to those wishing to gain exposure to today’s cutting-edge and advanced imaging techniques through our partnership with industry.
Sessions will cover normal cases and a wide range of pathologies and indications for each modality and will be aligned with the JRCPTB Cardiology training curriculum and curricula for those training for accreditation in TTE, TOE, Stress Echo, CMR, CT and Nuclear Cardiology with British and International Imaging Societies.
New training sessions and opportunities available at the 2024 Imaging Village:
We are excited to introduce a number of new training sessions and learning opportunities for the first time at this year’s Imaging Village. These include:
(a) Advanced/Structural CT station
We will offer our Structural Heart Disease/Structural Intervention/ACHD Cardiac CT station again this year, which proved very popular in its introduction last year, for those wishing to gain experience in these more advanced indications for CT.
(b) Practical CMR scanning station
We aspire to provide training in both practical image acquisition/scanning and reporting aspects of all modalities offered. Hence, we are excited to introduce a new, ‘Practical CMR scanning station’ this year in collaboration with Siemens. This will allow delegates to have the experience of running a CMR scanner and image acquisition/optimisation.
(c) Workstation-based training on Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography: This has been added to the Stress Echocardiography station, to allow coverage of both Pharmacological and Exercise Stress Echocardiography, covering the full range of ischaemic and non-ischaemic indications.
(d) ‘Imaging Masterclasses’
These special, small-group practical workshops will provide image acquisition and analysis teaching, tips and gems on a range of important imaging topics, delivered by experts in these modalities from national and international imaging societies. These were introduced last year and proved very popular. We look forwarding to offering these again this year. We will release details and open bookings for these sessions in early May. A communication will be sent by the BCS in due course.
Supervised hands-on training sessions available:
All supervised hands-on training sessions (‘stations’) will last 60 minutes and will consist of a hands-on tutorial with an experienced clinical expert trainer and applications specialist.
(1) Transthoracic Echocardiography:
(a) Standard TTE: Live sessions on hands-on image acquisition on volunteers and post-processing/analysis (normal case and a range of pathologies)
(b) Advanced Transthoracic Echocardiography: Live sessions on hands-on image acquisition on volunteers and post-processing/analysis, covering 3D Echo, Strain, Contrast Echo [LV Opacification, Saline Microbubble]
(2) Stress Echocardiography:
Live sessions on hands-on image acquisition on volunteers and post-processing/analysis for Exercise Bike Stress Echocardiography covering Ischaemic Heart Disease and Non-Ischaemic Indications including Valve Disease, Cardiomyopathies, and workstation-based teaching on Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography
(3) Transoesophageal Echocardiography:
Live sessions on ultra-realistic Intelligent Ultrasound TOE simulator providing hands-on training on acquisition of all views covering a full TOE study (normal case and a range of pathologies)
(4) Cardiac CT:
(a) Coronary Artery Disease Cardiac CT: Workstation-based training covering image acquisition and post-processing/analysis for Coronary Artery Disease (Native Coronary Arteries, CABG, Stents - normal cases and a range of pathologies)
(b) Structural Heart Disease/Intervention CT: Workstation-based training covering image acquisition and post-processing/analysis for advanced indications for Cardiac CT (Valve Intervention Planning: TAVR, TMVR; ACHD; Prosthetic Valve Assessment; Structural Intervention Planning: HCM, LAA Occlusion)
(c) CT-FFR: Workstation-based training covering image acquisition and post-processing/analysis for Heartflow CT-FFR analysis
(5) Cardiac MRI:
(a) General CMR: Workstation-based training covering CMR image acquisition and post-processing/analysis (normal cases and a range of pathologies and indications for CMR)
(b): Practical CMR scanning station: In collaboration with Siemens, this will allow delegates to have the experience of running a CMR scanner and practical image acquisition/optimisation through a ‘virtual’ machine.
(6) Nuclear Cardiology:
Workstation-based training covering Nuclear Cardiology image acquisition and post-processing/analysis for a range of indications including PET studies
Booking Sessions
Sessions are always extremely popular and places are limited, hence anyone wishing to partake is strongly advised to book session(s) as early as possible to avoid disappointment. There will be no drop-in sessions available, all sessions must be pre-booked online. To book a slot on an Imaging Village session, you must first register for the BCS Conference. Click here to register and the Education Zone booking slots for the ‘Imaging Village’ will be available to book on the 4th step in the registration process.
Certificates
Upon successful completion of a training session, a certificate from the British Cardiovascular Society will be awarded, confirming that learning relating to these objectives has taken place. This certificate can be incorporated into the trainee’s NHS ePortfolio and linked to the appropriate part of the curriculum. The certificate will be emailed in PDF format to the email address used to register for the session. A list of cases covered and countersigned by the expert trainer will be also provided for the trainee’s reference and upload to the their NHS ePortfolio.
Feedback
All delegates who attend a training session will be expected to provide feedback after the event via an online survey which will be emailed to them.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all industry partners supporting the 2024 BCS Annual Conference Education Zone Imaging Village through their provision of equipment and technical support:
- Echocardiography: GE HealthCare, Philips, Intelligent Ultrasound
- Cardiac CT: TeraRecon, GE HealthCare, Siemens-Healthineers, Canon Medical Systems, Medis Medical Imaging, HeartFlow
- Cardiac MRI: Medis Medical Imaging, Circle Cardiovascular Imaging, Siemens-Healthineers, NeoSoft
- Nuclear Cardiology: Courtesy of the British Nuclear Cardiology Society
As overall BCS Imaging Village Initiative Lead for 2024 and CMR Modality Lead, I and the BCS would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the individual expert Modality Leads and to all the expert faculty of the Imaging Village (Modality and Masterclass Trainers) for their time and expertise to train delegates:
2024 Imaging Village Modality Leads
- Transthoracic Echocardiography: Mrs Kamaljit Rai
- Stress Echocardiography: Dr Camelia Demetrescu & Mrs Sadie Bennett
- Transoesophageal Echocardiography: Dr Samir Srivastava
- Cardiac CT: Dr Jason Tarkin
- Cardiac MRI: Dr Jamal Khan
- Nuclear Cardiology: Dr Rebecca Schofield
I would like to express a special thanks to Katherine Holvik, Claire Cartwright, Jasdeep Bhamber and Linda Cuthbertson from the BCS for their invaluable and tireless administrative support, and to Professor Andrew Clark, BCS Annual Conference Programme Committee Chair for his support.
Dr Jamal Khan
2024 BCS Annual Conference Imaging Village Lead