Fellowship Information
Diagnostic Techniques
The Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program offers
a core procedural experience in the following diagnostic techniques:
coronary arteriograms, ventriculography, hemodynamics, intravascular
ultrasound, intracoronary Doppler flow and pressure monitoring. The
program also offers core experience in the following interventional
techniques: balloon angioplasty, stent implantation, saphenous vein
graft and arterial graft interventions, distal embolic protection
during angioplasty, urgent angioplasty for acute coronary syndromes,
primary angioplasty for acute myocardial infarction, directional
and rotational atherectomy techniques, intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation
and other techniques of mechanical circulatory support, intravascular
ultrasound and coronary flow-pressure measurement (coronary flow
reserve, fractional flow reserve). Additional techniques employed
based on the frequency of the cases include laser atherectomy techniques,
thrombectomy techniques, cardiac valvuloplasty, endomyocardial biopsy,
intravascular radiation therapy and local drug delivery (only as
part of investigational protocols).
Management of Procedural Complications
Interventional cardiology fellows will gain extensive experience
with the management of procedural complications and the appropriate
use of mechanical and pharmacological agents. Such complications
include coronary dissection, intracoronary thrombosis, spasm, perforation,
slow-flow, no-reflow, cardiogenic shock, left main dissection, cardiac
tamponade, peripheral arterial (access site) thrombosis, dissection
or embolization, case selection for surgical repair, pseudoaneurysm,
arteriovenous fistulae and nerve injury. In addition, all interventional
cardiology fellows will receive experience in the full range of arterial
vascular access techniques. These should include both transfemoral
approaches and approaches from the arm (brachial/radial). Each fellow
will acquire experience treating the full range of coronary lesion
morphologic subsets. This includes type A, B and C lesions, total
occlusions, heavily calcified lesions, saphenous vein graft lesions,
and lesions accessed via arterial bypass grafts.
Rotations
The Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program is organized in
three rotations (level I, level II and level III) that denote the
stepping of the fellows from simple cases to more complex cases progressively.
Each interventional cardiology fellow will participate in a minimum
of 300 and maximum of 500 coronary interventional cases during the
one-year program.
Clinical Experience
In addition to procedure skills, each interventional cardiology
fellow will acquire clinical experience in the following areas
during the care of patients who are evaluated for interventional
therapy:
- Case selection for interventional or surgical cardiac therapy for heart disease in the outpatient setting and longitudinal follow-up after such procedures are performed (outpatient setting, mainly chronic heart disease, comparative experience with medically treated patients will be included).
- Pre- and post-procedure patient care (in-hospital, acute ischemic syndromes).
- Subspecialty consultation
in interventional cardiology in the setting of hospitalized patients,
emergency unit patients, coronary care unit patients and surgical
intensive care or surgical wards.
Weekly
cardiac catheterization and interventional cardiology conferences,
hemodynamics and interventional cardiology didactic lecture series,
as well as monthly quality assurance conferences; interventional
cardiology-cardiothoracic surgery conferences, endovascular grand
rounds and the clinicopathological conference of the Department
of Medicine will supplement the clinical experience of each fellow.
Clinical Research & Education
Finally, all interventional cardiology fellows will have the opportunity
to participate in clinical research projects and a large variety
of structured educational activities in relation to the annual international
conference on Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics, which is
organized by the teaching faculty. All interventional cardiology
fellows are expected to present abstracts and publish scientific
papers stemming from their academic work during fellowship.
Download the Fellowship Application
Email Annemarie Kelley or call 212.305.2708 for further information
2011 / 2012 Columbia University Medical Center Interventional Cardiology Fellows
