The Cardiovascular Council consists of Society members interested in the performance and application of cardiovascular nuclear medicine procedures. It seeks to provide a forum for discussion and development of cardiac scintigraphic methods in an effort to realize the most beneficial applications. The Council actively seeks individuals who share this goal.

 Dear Colleagues, 

In Denver, I had the honor of succeeding Dr. Robert Gropler as President of the Cardiovascular Council. I am grateful to you for your support of the Cardiovascular Council and look forward to working with all of you.  

I would like to thank our Immediate Past President Dr. Robert Gropler, who has further strengthened our Council’s efforts for outreach to other societies in the field of cardiovascular imaging, including the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC), the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the American Heart Association (AHA), the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT), the Canadian Society of Nuclear Medicine (CSNMMI), and the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM), and his continued support for multimodality imaging in cardiovascular disease. I am also grateful to our prior Past Presidents who have contributed immensely to help form these valuable relationships. Our collaboration strengthens our overall message and helps us to reach our goal to provide quality patient care. 

While the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNMMI) Cardiovascular Council (CVC) continues to face challenges related to the transition to value-based care, changing reimbursement models, and appropriate use criteria decision support tools in a changing healthcare environment, we also have new exciting opportunities in the delivery of patient-centered care, facilitating the utilization of PET MPI, expanding our services to include the assessment of cardiac sarcoidosis, amyloidosis, vasculitis, and infective endocarditis, among others. The Council is proud to have collaborated with other organizations to deliver state-of-the-art expert consensus documents and position statements on the use of radionuclide imaging in these diseases. One of these efforts on the use of FDG PET/CT in cardiac sarcoidosis has just been published and can be viewed at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28765228. A key to our continued success will be to continuing our collaboration with other organizations to deliver a consistent message to our community. 

Another key to our success will be to strategically focus on helping our community facilitate the appropriate utilization of existing and new technologies, and in the future use of decision support tools. This year, I am pleased to report that the SNNMI CVC has an exciting opportunity to develop an appropriate use document for PET MPI. This effort, chaired by Dr. Thomas Schindler, a Past President of the SNMMI CVC, will incorporate the most current evidence and expert opinion. 

The changing healthcare environment has fostered new research and educational opportunities related to demonstrating value and cost effectiveness in a changing healthcare environment. Another goal of the CVC this year will be to provide resources to promote better understanding of value-based cardiac imaging and the gaps in knowledge where research may be needed.

In the past decade, clinical translation of cardiac molecular imaging and promotion of new tracers and certain technical advances have been challenging. The SNMMI CVC will continue to help bridge our research and clinical communities, and to advocate for collaboration between clinicians, scientists, and our partners in industry to provide our patients with the highest quality care.

Lastly, the SNMMI CVC will continue to focus its efforts on membership recruitment both domestically and internationally and on developing future leaders in the field. The key to attracting future members is to provide value for its memberships, which consists of all of the above efforts as well as advocacy and educational opportunities. As for leadership recruitment, we will continue to strengthen our internship program, which has recently expanded from one to two interns per cycle.

I am proud to be a member of an organization that has among its top goals the delivery of the best quality care for our patients. I look forward to working with all of you to ensure the success of our Council and the Nuclear Cardiology community at large.

Sincerely,                                                                     

Panithaya Chareonthaitawee, MD 

Cardiovascular Council President

Cardiovascular Statistics and Imaging Guidelines

1. Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics: 2016 Update; A Report from the American Heart Association http://professional.heart.org/professional/ScienceNews/UCM_480113_Heart-Disease-and-Stroke-Statistics---2016-Update.jsp
2. Approaches to Enhancing Radiation Safety in Cardiovascular Imaging: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/130/19/1730
3. Role of Noninvasive Testing in the Clinical Evaluation of Women With Suspected Ischemic Heart Disease: A Consensus Statement From the American Heart Association http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/130/4/350
4. 2013 ACCF/ACR/ASE/ASNC/SCCT/SCMR Appropriate Use of Cardiovascular Imaging in Heart Failure; A Joint Report of the ACR Appropriate Criteria Committee and the ACC Foundation AUC Task Force http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1681370
5. ACCF/AHA/ASE/ASNC/HFSA/HRS/SCAI/SCCT/SCMR/STS 2013 Multimodality Appropriate Use Criteria for the Detection and Risk Assessment of Stable Ischemic Heart Disease http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleid=1789799
6. All Guidelines from the American College of Cardiology can be accessed here http://www.cardiosource.org/Science-And-Quality/Practice-Guidelines-and-Quality-Standards.aspx
7. The SNMMI’s guideline documents for the cardiovascular system can be accessed here http://www.snmmi.org/ClinicalPractice/content.aspx?ItemNumber=6414&navItemNumber=10790
8. The SNMMI's full suite of guidance on Dose Optimization is available here http://www.snmmi.org/ClinicalPractice/DoseOptimization.aspx?ItemNumber=7317&navItemNumber=10793

Hermann Blumgart Award:

2017 Hermann Blumgart Award Winner 

2016 Hermann Blumgart Award Winner

2015 Hermann Blumgart Award Winner

2014 Hermann Blumgart Award Winner

2013 Hermann Blumgart Award Winner

2012 Hermann Blumgart Award Winner

Young Investigator Awards:

CVC Young Investigator Awards

The Society recognizes the need for sub-specialty interests/expertise within the field of nuclear medicine and moleuclar imaging. Councils provide the expertise, professional networking and educational programs for nuclear medicine professionals in respective areas and serve as a resource for development and implementatin of Society policies.

Council membership is voluntary. Councils adhere to Society Bylaws and policies, while operating under its own Operating Procedures, as approved by the House of Delegates, and its own business plan and budget, as approved by the SNMMI Board of Directors.

This secion provides the following council specific information.

Cardiovascular Council Board of Directors

CVC Operating Procedures

CVC Business Plan

CVC Council Reports to the House of Delegates

CVC Past Presidents

The Cardiovascular Council (CVC) works to serve and be a resource for members of the council itself who have special interest and expertise in the field of cardiovascular nuclear medicine, as well as to SNMMI as a whole in its missions and endeavors. 

As part of its mission, the CVC organizes scientific and continuing education sessions at the Mid Winter Meeting and the Annual Meeting of the Society. These activities are for members of the council and for the SNMMI membership at large, and they are also open to participation and attendance by people from outside the SNMMI. The CVC also supports additional programs on specialized topics, such as cardiac PET/CT, CV Molecular Imaging and Cost Effectiveness Research.  News and activities of the CVC are circulated to council members in a semi-annual newsletter. This and other professional information will also be available through the CVC webpage, and efforts underway to expand awareness of cardiovascular nuclear medicine studies to patients and providers via Outreach links through the SNMMI website.

Don’t Wait! Join Now!

The investment to join the Cardiovascular Council is minimal – only $20 annually.  Your membership dollars help us immensely in sponsoring quality programs while promoting medical education, research and patient care related to Cardiovascular Nuclear Medicine.  

You can join online at www.snmmi.org/join or send an email to memberinfo@snmmi.org