A cardiac computed tomography (CT) level II1 course has been developed in the United Kingdom for visiting radiology professionals from Iraq.

The course has been initiated by the British Institute of Radiology (BIR; London, UK), with technical support from Siemens Healthcare (Erlangen, Germany). The BIR works in partnership with the Baghdad Medical College (Iraq). The Baghdad Teaching Hospital in Iraq is funded by the UK Department for International Development and managed by British Council. The four-day course delivered training on the skills required to produce and interpret clinical cases and included the study of 150 cases using the Siemens’ CT syngo.via imaging workstation application.

“Cardiovascular disease remains one of the world’s leading causes of premature death and the figures from Iraq show it is no different to the rest of the world. The ability of cardiovascular CT to detect coronary artery disease [CAD] noninvasively allows early detection or exclusion of CAD and appropriate primary and secondary prevention strategies to be put in place to address this issue. Training senior colleagues from the Baghdad Medical College and Teaching Hospital will allow them to pass down these new skills to colleagues throughout Iraq and put them in a stronger position to address the growing global epidemic of cardiovascular disease,” commented Dr. Ed Nicol, consultant cardiologist at Royal Brompton (UK) and Harefield NHS [National Health Service] Foundation Trust (UK) and BIR cardiac CT course director. “2012 courses run by the British Institute of Radiology are open to delegates from home and abroad and will offer similar agendas focused on building knowledge of cardiovascular CT diagnosis.”

Additional cardiac CT courses run by the BIR and supported by Siemens will be open to interested parties in February, July, and September 2012. All the sessions are designed to build knowledge of how to analyze and interpret cardiac CT data sets, provide learning on how to handle common pitfalls in routine practice and provide instructive teaching sessions on pathology and technology.

Russell Lodge, CT business manager at Siemens Healthcare stated, “The hands-on sessions involving real-to-life cardiac CT cases help delegates to analyze and interpret major pathology groups including normal anatomy, anatomical variants, normal CT angiography, atherosclerotic CAD, as well as post-PCI and postsurgery assessment. This extends knowledge that individuals can take back into their clinical institutions to enhance a confident and swift diagnosis.”

The cardiac CT courses are suitable for delegates that are performing cardiac imaging on any suitable CT platform and prior experience on Siemens syngo.via or CT scanners are not expected. For further information on the planned courses for 2012, please visit the BIR online.
 

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