The curriculum consists of 12 months of supervised intensive training in advanced non-invasive cardiac imaging. During this, the fellow is exposed to an equivalent of six months of echocardiography, six months of coronary computed tomographic imaging and continuous exposure to cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear cardiology.

This experience is additive to the training received during the three years of core cardiology fellowship that often includes substantial exposure to echocardiography and nuclear cardiology. This should allow level-three certification in echocardiography and coronary computed tomographic angiography. The substantial resources of the Geisinger Medical center fully support the advanced non-invasive cardiac imaging fellowship. The center is equipped with the state-of-the-art digital echocardiography, nuclear cardiology, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging capabilities. The current level of performance of each of these areas of diagnostic testing is more than adequate for advanced training.

The following is the summary of the total number of procedures in each area performed in academic year 2007-2008:

• Transthoracic echocardiography 7,259
• Transesophageal echocardiography 1,040
• Exercise stress echocardiography 1,740   
• Dobutamine stress echocardiography 1,151
• Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging 361
• Coronary computed tomographic angiography 374
• Nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging 711