Dates

• February 27-29, 2012
• April 23-25, 2012
• June 4-6, 2012

Location

Fairfax Radiological Consultants
8318 Arlington Blvd Room 302A
Fairfax, VA 22031

Target Audience

CT Technologists performing Cardiac CT.

Objectives

Upon completion of this educational activity, attendees will:

• Be knowledgeable in the process of patient preparation prior to and during the acquisition of coronary CT data.
• Be knowledgeable in all aspects data acquisition for high quality diagnostic coronary CT angiography.
• Independently post-process coronary CT angiograms.
• Identify normal and anomalous coronary anatomy.
• Understand 3D processing challenges and how to overcome them.

Course Overview:

This course is intended for technologists who want to improve their ability to scan and process cardiac CT exams. The content of the course will be tailored to the experience level of the attendees. No prior cardiac CT experience is necessary, however if the technologists have some experience, we will further refine their knowledge and understanding of how to optimally scan and process these challenging cases.

In the scanning and patient preparation phase each morning, participants will observe live patients from arrival at the scanning suite through completion of their exam. Teaching will focus on the optimal layout of the exam area, patient monitoring and preparation, patient instruction, scan protocol selection, optimization of scan parameters, ECG use, optimal contrast infusion techniques, and post scan monitoring and release of the patient.

In the post-processing phase each afternoon, participants will each have their own Advantage Windows workstation. Instruction will focus on learning the use of the cardiac analysis software. The daily clinical cases and archived clinical cases, many with conventional angiographic correlation, will be processed. Special attention will be paid to the challenging issues of sub-optimal data sets, high coronary calcium levels, coronary bypass grafts, and intra-coronary stents.

• CT/AW VolumeShare(4.4)
• CT Cardiac Imaging - using AW 4.4

Faculty Background

James P. Earls: Dr. Earls received his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine. He completed his internship in general Surgery and residency in Diagnostic Radiology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC. He completed Fellowship training in Magnetic Resonance Imaging at NYU. He previously served on the full time faculty at both Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Dr. Earls is currently Vice President and Medical Director of Fairfax Radiological Consultants (FRC), P.C. and is Director of the Cardiac CT Lab at the Inova Heart and Vascular Institute in Falls Church, VA. He is the author of over 100 articles, book chapters, abstracts and other publications on advanced imaging technologies. Dr Earls' research interests currently include new technologies and methods for improving accuracy and reproducibility of cardiac CT. He lectures extensively on cardiac CT and has been Course Director for both national and international Cardiovascular Imaging meetings.

Rob Jennings: has more than 15 years CT experience and has been actively involved in Fairfax Radiology's Cardiac CT program for over seven years. He joined Fairfax Radiological Consultants in 1994, and is presently the 3-D Lab Director. Rob is an experienced instructor, specializing in post processing techniques and cardiac anatomy. He has participated in many studies involving Coronary CTA technology, including co-authoring, "Prospectively gated axial coronary CTA: An evaluation of image quality, enhancement characteristics, reliability, and radiation dose". Rob has vast clinical experience in 3-D post-processing of coronary, vascular and orthopedic exams. In addition to his clinical duties, Rob currently oversees FRC's low dose CT protocols, and has great interest in low dose CT techniques.

Judy Lane: joined Fairfax Radiological Consultants in 2000, currently serving as Senior Lead CT Technologist/Cardiac Technical Specialist. She has over 17 years of CT experience and has been the primary CT technologist for Fairfax Radiology's Cardiac CTA program since its inception. Judy's responsibilities include the implementation of protocols to ensure high quality imaging on both the Discovery HD-750 scanner and Lightspeed VCT scanner. She also trains all new employees entering the Cardiac program. Judy was involved in planning the department layout of two sites to establish an efficient workflow. She has evaluated new cardiac software and has been involved in many studies to enhance Cardiac CTA technology. Recently, she co-authored, "Prospectively Gated Axial Coronary CT Angiography: Comparison of Image Quality, Radiation Dose, and Reliability as Compared with Helical Coronary CT Angiography". Judy remains updated on CCTA technology, attending many conferences and courses. She is a founding member of the Society of Cardiovascular CT.

About Fairfax Radiological Consultants P.C.

FRC is a large 70+ physician sub-specialized radiology practice based in the Washington D.C. suburbs of Northern Virginia. Fairfax Radiology’s Cardiac CT program was started by Dr Earls 5 years ago and is now one of the busiest clinical programs in the U.S. They have performed approximately 8000 studies and have an extensive database of cases, including many with conventional angiographic correlation.

Comments From Previous Participants

"Judy's wealth of knowledge and experience has made a significant difference in how I now understand the complexities of cardiac scanning. Her calm approach and the small class size are a perfect complement to this very helpful course."

"Rob's vast experience and ability to present a potentially confusing subject with a calming demeanor , makes a dramatic difference with other similar courses. I highly recommend this course to others."

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