Latest News from SCCTAppropriateness Criteria for Stress Echocardiography PublishedThe American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) together with key specialty and subspecialty societies has released Appropriateness Criteria for Stress Echocardiography. Click here to access the report.
SCCT Issues Press Release Regarding CMS DecisionClick here to read SCCT's official statement on the March 12 decision.
CMS Announces LCD to Remain in Place for CCTAThe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced late this afternoon (March 12, 2008) that the local coverage determination process (LCD) will be left in place for CCTA. No national coverage determination (NCD) will be adopted at this time.This is exactly what SCCT requested! Our SCCT leaders and members worked hard to submit comments, meet with CMS, and provide the agency with needed information. SCCT leaders, members, and advocacy consultants worked as a team to bring this issue to the attention of Congress. 79 Members of the House of Representatives ultimately signed a letter to CMS to express concern about the proposed NCD. In addition, almost a dozen U.S. Senators wrote to CMS with their concerns. This is a direct result of our active grassroots involvement! Click here to read the memo.
79 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives Relay Their Concerns to Medicare About the Proposed NCD for CCTAOn March 7, 2008, 79 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) urging them to reconsider the proposed national coverage determination (NCD) with coverage with evidence development (CED) for cardiac computed tomography (CCTA). The overwhelming support comes after many SCCT members diligently contacted their representative asking for his signature. Additionally, at least one dozen U.S. Senators sent individual letters to CMS expressing their concerns about the proposed coverage determination.Click here to read the letter.
ACCF/AHA 2007 Clinical Competence Statement on Vascular Imaging With Computed Tomography and Magnetic ResonanceThis statement is the first American College of Cardiology (ACC)/AHA document on clinical competence in vascular computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and is designed to assist in the assessment of physicians' competence on a procedure-specific basis.Click here to access the entire statement.
SCCT Japan Chapter holds Inaugural MeetingThe inaugural meeting of the SCCT Japan Chapter was held on Saturday, September 29, 2007 in Tokyo, Japan. An enthusiastic audience of over 250 physicians was in attendance. Presentations included the following topics: Introduction of SCCT and its Activities; Coronary CT Angiography: Protocols, Techniques, Results; Changing Role of Cardiac CT in Clinical Practice of Ischemic Heart Disease; Coronary CT in the Evaluation of Acute Chest Pain in Emergency Room; Plaque Characterization by CT: New Technologies and Methods; Role of CT and Nuclear Imaging in Assessment of Ischemic Heart Disease; Assessment of Myocardial Viability and perfusion by CT; "Dynamic Cardiac CT": Valves Assessment: Clinical Role of CT; Cardiovascular Applications of 256-row MDCT; and Future Directions and Prospects of Cardiac CT. Several members of the SCCT Executive Committee and Board of Directors (including Michael Poon, Gilbert Raff, Jack Ziffer and Joao Lima) joined presenters from the Japan Chapter (Masahiro Jinzaki, Takeshi Kondo, Sei Komatsu, Hiroyuki Niinuma, Teruhito Mochizuki and Sachio Kuribayashi) as the faculty for this meeting.With the successful start of this first international chapter, additional international chapters will be formed in the future as interest is expressed to SCCT.
SCCT Announces the Formation of Regional WorkgroupsWe are pleased to announce the formation of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography Regional Workgroups. These Workgroups consist of 11 groups throughout the country. They are advocacy groups that will address important issues pertaining to cardiovascular CT in a grassroots fashion. They will facilitate communication up and down the chain and allow a coordinated and efficient approach to dealing with important CVCTA issues. These workgroups are operated under the direction of the SCCT Board of Directors and the Regional Workgroup Committee. These workgroups will work in conjunction with the ACC, ACR and other societies whenever possible to effect our goals. We have identified initial directors and associate directors for these workgroups and are now looking for workgroup members.If you have an interest in Cardiovascular CT or have specific issues that you need help with or that you think need to be addressed then this is the perfect way for you to get involved. You can decide how much time and energy you want to put into your workgroup. Important items that we will focus on initially are:
We have designed a website to facilitate communication and minimize the time commitment needed to be effective. Please visit the website to join as a member of your Regional Workgroup. The address is: www.scctworkgroups.org.
Clinical Expert Consensus Report AvailableThe new ACC/AHA guidelines for the Use of Coronary Calcium provides an update from the prior expert consensus document written in 2000. With ample new evidence of the ability of coronary artery calcium scanning to predict cardiovascular risk, the new guidelines provide rationale for using this test in the asymptomatic intermediate risk patient, and provides the strongest support yet from the American College of Cardiology to utilize cardiac CT as a screening test in select populations. It also provides an excellent reference for the physician utilizing cardiac CT to understand the newest data available related to coronary artery calcification.Click here to access the report.
SCCT Responds to the Editor of Consumer Reports on HealthIn the March 2007 (Volume 19, #3) issue, Consumer Reports on Health published an article entitled "Angioplasty: Resist the Rush." Unfortunately, information concerning coronary CT angiography contained in this article is incorrect, oversimplified to the extent of being wrong, and it may be misleading. Stephan Achenbach and other members of the Board of Directors authored a letter to the Editor of the Consumer Reports on Health, to respond to the article.Click here to access the letter to the Editor.
An Important Clinical Trial, IMPACT, was published in the November 2006 issue of Investigative RadiologyThe results of this trial are very important for any physician involved in computed tomography and therefore, quite relevant to the membership of the SCCT.Click here to access this statement.
Assessment of Coronary Artery Disease by Cardiac Computed TomographyAssessment of Coronary Artery Disease by Cardiac Computed Tomography, A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association Committee on Cardiovascular Imaging and Intervention, Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention, and Committee on Cardiac Imaging, Council on Clinical Cardiology will serve as a valuable reference for SCCT members.Click here to access this statement.
Appropriateness Criteria for Cardiac Computed Tomography and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging PublishedThe American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) along with the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) and other key specialty and subspecialty societies has released Appropriateness Criteria for Cardiac Computed Tomography and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The report has been formally endorsed by the SCCT. Click here to access that report. Click here to access the report appendix.
COCATS Recommendations PublishedThe American College of Cardiology Foundation COCATS recommendations for Training in Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging (Computed Tomography) have recently been published. The recommendations have been formally endorsed by the SCCT. The chair of the writing committee is Matthew J. Budoff, MD. Other SCCT members serving on the writing committee included Stephan Achenbach, MD, Zahi Fayad, PhD, Daniel S. Berman, MD, and Kim Williams, MD. Click here to access that document.An Introduction by Dr. Budoff COCATS 2006 is the first time we have seen cardiac CT included in the training requirements. The training requirements for fellows is slightly lower than that for practicing physicians, only because we are allowing for programs to get up to speed with cardiac CT. It is recognized that many programs do not have training yet in place. Access to equipment is not seen as a major barrier, as almost every training hospital will have a 16 or more slice CT or electron beam CT in their hospital system. The difficulty for programs is having the expertise to teach the fellows the necessary information. Time and number of scans constitute the training requirements for levels 1 2 and 3, and these are appropriate to obtain the necessary exposure to this new modality. I have no doubt that Cardiac CT will be an integral part of most cardiologists' practices in the near future, and incorporating exposure into training is prudent and timely on the part of the American College of Cardiology.
Matthew Budoff, MD
Membership Growing!Membership in SCCT is rapidly approaching 4,200 with new applications being received daily. Clearly, physicians and others working in the field of cardiovascular CT share the vision, mission and goals so well articulated by the leadership of the Society when SCCT was incorporated in March 2005.The leadership and staff are working hard to make sure that all physicians who have appropriate training, regardless of their specialty, are adequately reimbursed for the procedure. Some medical societies want the procedure to be performed only by their members. SCCT's Advocacy Committee, headed by Michael Poon, MD, NYC, is taking a pro-active role, with the help of the ACC, to meet each challenge that surfaces. This includes responding to federal and state legislation that could make it difficult for cardiologists to have an active role in cardiovascular CT. When the Society learns of plans by third party payors to limit reimbursement for performing the procedure, the SCCT leadership immediately joins other societies in seeking meetings with the payors in hopes of convincing the payors of the value and potential cost saving of the procedure. The SCCT headquarters office continues to receive numerous calls from physicians seeking information relative to short duration training for those who wish to perform cardiovascular CT. In response to these requests, staff has assembled a list of known training programs. Click here to access the list. The SCCT Education Committee is currently co-sponsoring a number of CME programs, all listed elsewhere on this website. Your suggestions and recommendations relative to how SCCT may serve you should be forwarded by e-mail to the SCCT President, Michael Poon, MD, at: officers@scct.org.
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