March 2010


CEO Update

 

 

SCCT's first Annual Scientific Meeting, held July 13-16, 2006, began with a particularly auspicious sign-over ninety original scientific abstracts focused on cardiovascular CT were submitted. Since the first meeting in 2006, abstract submission has increased steadily, and exceeded each previous year's submissions. The most recent Scientific Meeting in 2009 has seen the total abstract submission numbers double from their early days, and SCCT has expanded the meeting's oral and poster abstract presentations to multiple tracks representing a wide spectrum of abstract information on technology, and clinical and basic science research in cardiovascular imaging by computed tomography.

The numbers have it: the SCCT Annual Scientific Meeting is the place to be for both seminal work and the most up-to-date research on computed tomography. But the numbers also prove another important fact: SCCT has always had a strong international showing in both abstract submission and final presentation. In fact, forty percent of the abstracts presented at the 2009 meeting were by international presenters. SCCT welcomes all international abstract submissions, and hopes to present the best-rounded research possible from all over the world.

With that in mind, we highly encourage you to submit your research to be considered for oral or poster presentation! Posters will be displayed prominently within the SCCT Exhibit Hall for ideal viewing opportunities, and given dedicated presentation times that allow authors to engage in Q&A discussion with both peers and expert moderators. All accepted abstracts will be included within the JCCT 2010 Abstract Supplement, published concurrently with the July issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.

The 2010 Scientific Meeting will also see the advent of a new abstract category track, dedicated solely to technologists and nurses. With this and in future meetings, SCCT hopes to encourage relevant member services, resources and assistance to enhance the development of the field of cardiovascular CT for technologists as well as physicians.

Award recognition will be given to the best abstracts. SCCT is also partnering with Toshiba Medical Systems and Siemens Healthcare to promote both the Young Investigator Award and the Siemens Outstanding Academic Research Award. These programs encourage the professional and clinical development of top radiology residents and cardiology fellows by promoting the research and writing skills, and oral presentation skills, and may very well provide the catalyst for some trainees to become future thought leaders in the field of cardiovascular imaging.

Please consider submitting your best and most recent work to SCCT 2010. The abstract deadline is April 2nd, and further information can be found on the SCCT website. Visit http://www.scct.org/annualmeeting/2010/abstracts.cfm or click here to download detailed instructions, and to submit your abstracts. If you have any questions, the SCCT staff would be happy to help: please contact us at info@scct.org

SCCT is proud to provide the largest single-meeting collection of cardiovascular CT original scientific abstracts from all over the world. Thank you for your membership, and your support of SCCT!

 


 

International Regional Committee Update

 

Australia/New Zealand (ANZ) IRC

The chair of the Australia/New Zealand International Regional Committee attended a Cardiac Imaging symposium through Phoenix Conferencing on the Gold Coast, February 27-28. Dr. Harvey Hecht of the SCCT, and Dr. James Min and Dr. Daniel Berman of the SCCT Board of Directors also attended.

A symposium will be held with the Imaging Council at the CSANZ meeting in Adelaide, under the auspices of SCCT and CSANZ. This will take place on August 5, 2010, and further details will be forthcoming on the SCCT website when available. A case-based breakfast session will also be held on August 6th. James Min and Mario Garcia of the SCCT Board of Directors will be invited speakers, as well as Dr. Daniel Friedman, chair of ANZ IRC, and Dr. Christian Hamilton-Craig.

The Concorde Cardiovascular CT meeting is being held in May in Sydney, and will feature two days of plenary lectures from international and national experts covering a range of cardiac and vascular CT theory and new research.

Please visit http://www.cctatconcord.com/ for more information.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists meeting in Perth on October 14-17 will have a major cardiac CT component, including workshops.

Please click here visit here for more information.

Brazil IRC

In January 2009, a successful and sold-out CTA Academy was held in Brazil for the first time. SCCT will again hold this popular international training course in April 2010, under the directorship of Dr. Roberto Cury and Dr. Ricardo Cury, and with the additional faculty assistance of Dr. Cesar Nomura. Further details about the course and online registration can be found at the SCCT website, a well as listed in the "Upcoming Events" section of this newsletter.

Brazil CTA Academy

CTA Academy: Hands-On Training in Coronary CT Angiography Interpretation for Intermediate & Advanced Users

April 27 - 28, 2010
Click here for more information

The 40th Sao Paulo Radiology Meeting (JPR'2010) will take place from April 29th to May 2nd, 2010. It will be held at the Transamerica Expo Center, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This meeting is co-sponsored by SCCT. Click here for more information.

The Brazil International Regional Committee would also like to highlight three recent publications of interest or importance in the international journals:

Incremental value of adenosine-induced stress myocardial perfusion imaging with dual-source CT at cardiac CT angiography.

Rocha-Filho JA, Blankstein R, Shturman LD, Bezerra HG, Okada DR, Rogers IS, Ghoshhajra B, Hoffmann U, Feuchtner G, Mamuya WS, Brady TJ, Cury RC. Radiology. 2010 Feb;254(2):410-9

The Absence of Coronary Calcification Does Not Exclude Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease or the Need for Revascularization in Patients Referred for Conventional Coronary Angiography.

Gottlieb I, Miller JM, Arbab-Zadeh A, Dewey M, Clouse ME, Sara L, Niinuma H, Bush DE, Paul N, Vavere AL, Texter J, Brinker J, Lima JAC, and Rochitte CE. J Am Coll Cardiol 2010;55;627-634

Relation between visceral fat and coronary artery disease evaluated by multidetector computed tomography.

Marques MD, Santos RD, Parga JR, Rocha-Filho JA, Quaglia LA, Miname MH, Avila LF. Heart Institute (InCor) University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Brazil Atherosclerosis. 2009 Oct 29.

Europe IRC

The First European Scientific Meeting of SCCT was held on February 6th, 2010, at the Leiden University Medical Center, in The Netherlands. The aim of this international one-day meeting was to provide a discussion of recently published guidelines and recommendations concerning cardiovascular CT, as well as potential applications in daily clinical practice. In addition, smaller Read with the Experts sessions, tailored to different levels of experience in cardiovascular CT, allowed enhanced interaction between faculty and attendees. The meeting was extremely successful under the directorship of Dr. Stephan Achenbach, with over 120 attendees.

Japan IRC

The 3rd Annual Scientific Meeting of Japan Regional Committee of SCCT was held in Tokyo on Sep. 5, 2009, at Tokyo Conference Center, in Shinagawa, Tokyo. This meeting is held annually in September, and included over 200 attendees in 2009, including cardiologists, radiologists, radiology technicians and vendor employees.

This meeting included workshop sessions focusing on "New Generation CT", contrasting and comparing the POV of physicians and of manufacturers' regarding 320-row and 256-row CT, high definition CT, and dual source CT. Workshop sessions also included discussion on methods of image analysis for cardiac CT, with the aim of increasing collaboration between doctors and technologists. The meeting concluded with lecture sessions by invited speakers, Dr. Koen Nieman of University Medical Center Rotterdam, and Dr. Lawrence M. Boxt of Montefiore Medical Center.

 

 

The SCCT guidelines for performance, interpretation and reporting of coronary computed tomographic angiography, published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography earlier in the year, were translated into Japanese, and summaries of them were distributed to the attendees. In 2010, the annual Japan Regional Committee of SCCT meeting will be held on September 4th in Tokyo, and information will be published on the SCCT website.

Middle East IRC

The Middle East IRC is in the midst of launching several regional research projects. The committee chair has recently returned from Saudi Arabia, after co-chairing the Imaging Sessions of the Saudi Heart Association. Attendee response was very strong.

SCCT knows of the limitation of quality training courses that are within convenient distance of the members of the Middle East IRC, and will be planning for future educational opportunities and cardiac CT courses that International members in that region can more easily attend. In particular, Egypt, Iran, and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have such a developed existing network of cardiac CT users, that future organizational work will be focused and developed for these areas specifically. The chair of the Middle East IRC will be working with radiology and cardiology society leadership in those regions to develop contact lists and faculty members who can serve as training course initiators.

In long term future plans for these areas, these specific countries will also call for their representatives to reach a certain number of members, in order to develop local chapters. These chapters will hold certain autonomy and by headed by the regional committee representative, who will in turn report to the regional committee, and from it to the SCCT International.

Upcoming Events


March 26, 2010

Middle East Chapter Initiation Meeting in conjunction with the Lebanese Society of Cardiology Annual Congress

Beirut, Lebanon

Click here for more information.

April 17-18, 2010, San Francisco, California

CTA Academy - Hands-on Training in Coronary CT Angiography for Intermediate/Advanced Users
Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf
Course Directors: Wm. Guy Weigold, MD, FSCCT and Tony DeFrance, MD, FSCCT
Workstation/Sponsor: Vital Images

Click here for more information

April 27-28, 2010, San Paulo, Brazil

CTA Academy - Hands-on Training in Coronary CT Angiography for Intermediate/Advanced Users
Sirio Libanes Hospital
Course Directors: Ricardo C. Cury, MD, FSCCT and Roberto Cury, MD
Faculty: Cesar Nomura, MD
Workstation/Sponsor: SIEMENS / Cardiology Center - Sirio Libanes Hospital
CME credit is not available for this course

Click here for more information


April 29th - May 2nd, 2010

40th Sao Paulo Radiology Meeting (JPR'2010)

This meeting is co-sponsored by SCCT

Transamerica Expo Center

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Click here for more information

May 21-22, 2010-03-08

Cardiovascular CT, Concord 2010

Sydney Masonic Centre

Sydney, Australia

Click here for more information

May 29-30, 2010, Orlando, Florida

CTA Academy - Hands-on Training in Coronary CT Angiography for Intermediate/Advanced Users
Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort
Course Director: Stephan Achenbach, MD, FSCCT
Workstations/Sponsor: SIEMENS

Click here for more information


July 14-15, 2010, Las Vegas, Nevada

CTA Academy - Hands-on Training in Coronary CT Angiography for Intermediate/Advanced Users
The Bellagio Hotel
Course Director: Stephan Achenbach, MD, FSCCT
Workstations/Sponsor: SIEMENS

Click here for more information

July 15-18, 2010

SCCT2010

The Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada

Join us in Las Vegas, NV for the SCCT 5th Annual Scientific Meeting. SCCT2010 covers completely new topics and is the only meeting devoted exclusively to cardiovascular CT. Featuring expert faculty, this program will provide timely information on the technical principles, methods, clinical results, potential applications and limitations of cardiovascular computed tomography and will update attendees with the most recent scientific data in the field. The meeting features Read with the Experts sessions, a Workstation Arena and interactive interpretation sessions. Don't miss this valuable learning opportunity. Visit www.SCCT.org/annualmeeting or click here to register. Reserve your room at the Bellagio Hotel at http://www.scct.org/annualmeeting or click here - $150 room rate! This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM. Jointly sponsored with Tulane University Health Sciences Center.

July 14-15, 2010

3rd Annual Cardiovascular CT Board Review Course

The Bellagio, Las Vegas, Nevada
The 3rd Annual Cardiovascular CT Board Review Course held July 14-15, 2010 at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada will be a rigorous and comprehensive review of all aspects of cardiovascular CT principles, methodologies, and clinical practice. The course features presentations from expert faculty in cardiology and radiology, a curriculum designed according to the content outline of the CBCCT examination, and interactive learning tools including an audience response system. This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM. Jointly sponsored with Tulane University Health Sciences Center. Click here for more information.

 

 

 

 

The SCCT wishes to extend a warm THANK YOU to our partners in cardiovascular computed tomography.

 

 


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