Course description

Advanced Cardiac Imaging: Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR)

This course is for radiologists, cardiologists, radiographers/ technologists and other health professionals who want to learn more about cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR). Previous experience in CMR is not required.

The learning outcomes are:

Understanding of the basic CMR physics and sequences in order to better understand how to acquire cardiac images and how to assess commonly used sequences (eg. Steady state free precession sequence, phase contrast to measure blood flow, T2* and magnetic resonance angiography).
Understand the safety profile and risks of contrast agents used in CMR.
Ability to analyse CMR images at SCMR level 1 competency such as stress perfusion, late gadolinium enhancement and post-processing for ventricular function.
Attain hands-on experience to analyse real clinical cases from a database of 50 clinical cases, using dedicated CMR software, as well as further supplementation through our web forum.
Basic understanding of future developments in the CMR field such as exercise CMR, artificial intelligence, feature tracking, T1 and T2 mapping.
Provide career advice and thoughts from well-known CMR experts through exclusive interviews.

A MOOC on cardiac computed tomography (CT) is also available on this platform in order to introduce you to this complementary cardiovascular imaging technique.

This course was developed in collaboration with the International Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) and is suitable for radiologists, cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, radiology technologists/engineers and other medical health professionals. CMR experience is not required.

Upcoming start dates

1 start date available

Start anytime

Self-Paced Online
Online
English

Suitability - Who should attend?

Prerequisites:

This course targets mainly radiologists, cardiologists, and health professionals who are interested in learning Cardiac CMR. Previous experience in cardiac CMR is not required, though medical background or education would be helpful.

Outcome / Qualification etc.

What you'll learn

Introduction of advanced techniques such as T1 and T2 mapping, feature tracking and exercise CMR.
The different sequences used in cardiac MRI imaging and the physics behind these sequences.
How to acquire the cardiac imaging planes.
How to assess the ventricular function, late gadolinium enhancement and T2* for iron overload.
Understanding the normal appearances of the pericardium, heart muscle, valves and vasculature.
Understand how different cardiac pathologies result in different forms of cardiac remodelling.
An overview of the main cardiac diseases, such as coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathies (eg. hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy), valvular heart disease, cardiac tumours and congenital heart disease.
Introduction to advanced techniques such as T1 and T2 profiles, feature tracking and exercise stress CMR.
Knowledge of the different sequences used in cardiac MRI imaging and their physical background.
Method for obtaining cardiac imaging plane.
How to analyze ventricular function, delayed enhancement, and assessment of myocardial iron load with T2*.
Learn about the normal appearance of the pericardium, heart muscle, valves, and blood vessels.
Understand how different cardiomyopathies cause different heart morphology changes.
An overview of common heart disorders such as coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy (e.g. hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy), valvular heart disease, heart tumors, and congenital heart disease.
Learn and experience how to analyze cardiac images with dedicated software through webinars and forums.
Use normal volunteers and real cases to study ventricular function, blood flow and T1/T2 mapping analysis methods.

Training Course Content

Week 1: Sequences, Acquisition, Contrast Agents and Basic Physics

This MOOC will begin with a course on the common cardiac MR sequences, the physics and application behind those sequences. We will also learn how to acquire cardiac MR imaging planes.

Week 2: Cardiomyopathies, LGE and T2

In this section, we will teach you how to assess and analyse ventricular function, LGE and T2*. We will also give you an overview of the main common cardiac diseases, such as coronary artery disease and cardiomyopathy.

Week 3: Coronary Artery Disease, Aorta, Pericardium and Valves

CMR techniques such as stress perfusion imaging, CMR sequences and methods for assessing aortopathy, pericarditis with or without constriction and valvular disease will be covered in this section.

Week 4: Congenital Heart Disease and Paediatric Scanning

This section will cover the role of CMR in congenital heart disease. You will also learn scanning techniques and common indications for babies and children.

Week 5: Advanced and Future Developments

In the last section, we will cover exciting advances in cardiac MRI, such as exercise CMR, T1/T2 mapping, artificial intelligence and feature tracking.

Clinical Cases:

You will also have hands-on experience to review clinical cases (eg. stress CMR with x-ray catheter angiography correlation) with tutorial videos every week.

Week 1: Sequences, Image Acquisition, Contrast Agents and Basic Physics

Firstly, common cardiac MR sequences and their physical and basic applications are introduced. We will also learn how to acquire cardiac MR imaging planes.

Week 2: Cardiac disease, delayed enhancement and T2* image analysis

In this section we will teach you how to assess and analyze ventricular function, delayed enhancement and T2*. We will also cover common heart conditions such as coronary artery disease and cardiomyopathy.

Week 3 Coronary artery disease, aorta, pericardium and valves

This section will describe CMR techniques such as stress perfusion imaging, CMR sequences, and the evaluation of aortic disease, pericarditis with and without constrictive changes, and valvular disease.

Week 4: Congenital Heart Disease and Child CMR Scan

This section will introduce congenital heart disease and the application of CMR in it. We will also learn about related scanning techniques, and common indications for infants and children.

Week 5: Frontiers and Future Developments

In the last section, we will introduce you to some exciting advances in CMR, such as exercise stress imaging, T1/T2 mapping, artificial intelligence, and feature tracking.

Clinical case:

You will also have the opportunity to discuss weekly practice clinical cases (eg stress perfusion CMR with corresponding coronary angiography findings) through webinars and web forums.