To accomplish our mission to improve cardiovascular health by advancing the field of CMR, the SCMR relies on a network of volunteers who actively participate in a variety of committees. Please do your part to advance the field by volunteering to serve as a committee member. Click the read more button below to complete your volunteer application. The SCMR will try to place every volunteer in his or her preferred committee. If you are already on a committee you do not need to complete the application.
Thank you for making the Society stronger!
SCMR Promoting Sarcoidosis Awareness Month
Sarcoidosis is a systemic inflammatory disease that typically affects the lungs and lymph nodes and that can affect the heart, leading to possible arrhythmias and eventually heart failure. To date, sarcoidosis has no known cause. SCMR is promoting awareness of the disease this month, that is also recognized as Sarcoidosis Awareness Month. Cardiac MRI has the advantage of noninvasively assessing the entire myocardium for evidence of the disease.
SCMR Members in the News
Current SCMR member and former Board of Trustee Greg Hundley from VCU Massey Cancer Center appeared on his local news. Hear him discuss a new study called the Upbeat Trial aimed to uncover how breast cancer treatments impact heart function.
Heart's Ventricular Mass on MRI May Predict Risk of Death in PAH
CMR is used to look at the heart's right ventricle, and evidence suggests that the technique can give valuable cues for predicting the likelihood of heart failure and death. In a study at at Johns Hopkins University, together with collaborators from other institutions, investigated the potential of a different kind of CMR prognostic marker. They looked at different metrics of left and right ventricular mass in 64 patients who underwent CMR following right heart catheterization.
SCMR Members in the News
SCMR members Fawaz Alenezi, MD
, and Ahmed Sami Abuzaid, MBBS, FACC
, will be publishing a periodic, multipart series of articles related to the utility of CMR for the American College of Cardiology. In their first article, they highlight the component of value and quality of CMR.
The SCMR Cardio-Oncology Working group is collaborating with the American College of Cardiology (ACC) to address Cardio-Oncology preauthorization. The goal is to streamline the process by eliminating preauthorization in scenarios where there is data to support CMR as the preferred test to avoid delays in treatment. The College's authorization reporting tools collect data from pre-authorization requestors on disputed requests and denials to establish trends of inappropriate prior authorization decisions. Please complete the form and under PRACTICE NAME put CARDIAC MRI SURVEY so SCMR/ACC can address the reasons for denials or excessive prior use, and track the data. Under comments, it would be helpful if the dx initially used was added for the CMR. Thank you for participating.
Case of the Week: Left Ventricular Thrombus or Myxoma: The use of Multimodality Imaging
A 46 year old woman presented with complaints of generalized abdominal pain. Initial work up with a Computerized Tomography (CT) scan of abdomen/pelvis revealed wedge shaped areas of low attenuation in her spleen and right kidney which was consistent with infarction. She also had adynamic ileus secondary to bowel infarction along with findings suggestive of an embolus in her superior mesenteric artery (SMA).
