OVERVIEW

2024 American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) Nuclear Cardiology Board Exam Prep Course is organized by American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC).

Date of Release: August 8, 2024
Date of CME/MOC Claims Expiration: December 31, 2025
Date of Activity Access Expiration: September 15, 2026

Description:
Whether you are preparing for the CBNC Nuclear Cardiology Board Exams or want to stay current on board-focused updates in nuclear cardiology, the ASNC Nuclear Cardiology Board Exam Prep Course is right for you. Based on the CBNC exam blueprint, esteemed Board Prep faculty teach via 19 pre-recorded presentations and will walk through the answer explanations to the 170 practice questions and much more.

Learner Objectives:
The primary objectives of the course are to enable participants to achieve the following:

Apply nuclear cardiovascular imaging physics and instrumentation
Explain image acquisition and processing considerations and identify associated artifacts
Discuss the production and management of radionuclides and radiopharmaceuticals
Incorporate patient-centered imaging principles and appropriate use considerations in nuclear cardiology and stress procedure selection
Incorporate risk stratification into selection and application of nuclear cardiology studies
Integrate radiation safety standards into professional nuclear cardiology practice
Apply nuclear imaging tools in assessment of myocardial viability and cardiac amyloidosis
Understand the basics of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging for myocardial perfusion and metabolic viability and sarcoidosis assessment
Interpret SPECT and PET perfusion and metabolic images and ventricular function imaging
Utilize myocardial perfusion imaging in the assessment, diagnosis, and response to therapy in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease and special populations
Appropriately identify non-cardiac findings on SPECT and PET-CT cardiovascular imaging studies
Integrate nuclear cardiology into the multimodality imaging evaluation of cardiovascular disease

Overall Goal:
The overall goal of this activity is to increase physician competence in nuclear cardiology by providing a comprehensive review, including the most up-to-date information, developments, treatment protocols, methodology, and best test for the right patient at the right time to optimize patient outcomes in their nuclear cardiology practice.

Statement of Need:
Radionuclide-based cardiac imaging studies, including myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), play an important role in the diagnosis and management of patients with suspected or known heart disease. Today more than 5000 laboratories are performing an estimated 8 million myocardial perfusion studies, of which 58% use pharmacological stress agents, either alone or with exercise.* A large body of scientific evidence exists on the clinical value of MPI, based on studies performed on many thousands of patients. These studies are highly sensitive and specific for the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment response of coronary artery disease, as well as for selection of patients who may benefit from other types of intervention, including revascularization and device therapy. The value and justification of MPI for risk assessment is based on large observational outcome studies. As a result of the recognized clinical value and cost effectiveness of these studies, they have been incorporated into many ACC/American Heart Association (AHA)/ASNC clinical management guidelines.

Nuclear cardiology is an evolving field with continuing advances in software, instrumentation, and radiopharmaceuticals to provide high quality, clinically relevant information for patient care. These advances require those involved in providing nuclear cardiology studies to be updated continuously, to ensure the procedures are used appropriately and safely, and to assure recent clinical and technological advances are incorporated in a timely manner to continually improve the image quality and interpretation to provide the best clinical care.