SPCTPD/ACC/AAP/AHA Pediatric Training Statement
e57
1. Introduction
1.1. Document Development Process
The Society of Pediatric Cardiology Training Program
Directors (SPCTPD) board assembled a steering commit-
tee that nominated 2 chairs, 1 SPCTPD steering committee
member, and 4 additional experts from a wide range of pro-
gram sizes, geographic regions, and subspecialty focuses.
Representatives from the American College of Cardiology
(ACC), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and
American Heart Association (AHA) participated. The steering
committee member was added to provide perspective to each
task force as a “nonexpert” in that field. Relationships with
industry and other entities were not deemed relevant to the
creation of a general cardiology training statement; however,
employment and affiliation information for authors and peer
reviewers are provided in Appendixes 1 and 2, respectively,
along with disclosure reporting categories. Comprehensive
disclosure information for all authors, including relation-
ships with industry and other entities, is available as an online
supplement to this document.
The writing committee developed the document, approved
it for review by individuals selected by the participating
organizations (Appendix 2), and addressed their comments.
The final document was approved by the SPCTPD, AAP,
and AHA, as well as endorsed by the Society of Pediatric
Echocardiography in February 2015. It was endorsed by the
American Society of Echocardiography and approved by the
ACC in March 2015. This document is considered current
until the SPCTPD revises or withdraws it.
1.2. Background and Scope
For over 25 years, noninvasive cardiac imaging has been the
mainstay of anatomic and physiological assessment in pedi-
atric cardiology and congenital heart disease. An ACC/AAP/
AHA combined task force published pediatric noninvasive car-
diac imaging training guidelines in 2005, including guidelines
for training in transthoracic (TTE), transesophageal (TEE), and
fetal echocardiography, as well as in cardiac magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI).
1
These guidelines, which were also endorsed by
the American Society of Echocardiography and the Society of
Pediatric Echocardiography, established standard goals, training
methods, and expected levels of expertise for core and advanced
levels of pediatric cardiology fellowship training.
With continued advancement in the field of noninvasive
imaging since the publication of these guidelines, the scope of
training, expected level of expertise, and knowledge of exist-
ing information technology infrastructure supporting these
imaging modalities have evolved. Use of imaging techniques
such as cardiac MRI, 3-dimensional (3D) echocardiography,
and new applications such as strain imaging have become
more commonplace in everyday practice. Additionally, the
noninvasive imaging work environment has incorporated
Circulation is available at http://circ.ahajournals.org DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000193
The cover page, introduction, and other task force reports for these Training Guidelines for Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship Programs are available
online at http://circ.ahajournals.org (Circulation. 2015;132:e41–e42; e43–e47; e48–e56; e68–e74; e75–e80; e81–e90; e91–e98; e99–e106; and e107–e113).
The American Heart Association requests that this document be cited as follows: Srivastava S, Printz BF, Geva T, Shirali GS, Weinberg PM, Wong PC,
Lang P. Task force 2: pediatric cardiology fellowship training in noninvasive cardiac imaging. Circulation. 2015;132:e57–e67.
This article is copublished in Journal of the American College of Cardiology and reprinted in the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography.
The online-only Comprehensive RWI Data Supplement table is available with this article at http://circ.ahajournals.org/lookup/suppl/
doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000000193/-/DC1.
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the American College of Cardiology (www.acc.org), the American Academy of Pediatrics, (www.aap.org), and the American Heart Association (my.
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(Circulation. 2015;132:e57–e67. DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000193.)
© 2015 by the Society of Pediatric Cardiology Training Program Directors, American College of Cardiology Foundation, American Academy of
Pediatrics, and the American Heart Association, Inc.
Task Force 2: Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship
Training in Noninvasive Cardiac Imaging
Endorsed by the American Society of Echocardiography and the Society
of Pediatric Echocardiography
Shubhika Srivastava, MBBS, FAAP, FACC, FASE, Co-Chair;
Beth F. Printz, MD, PhD, FAAP, FASE, Co-Chair; Tal Geva, MD, FACC;
Girish S. Shirali, MBBS, FACC, FASE; Paul M. Weinberg, MD; Pierre C. Wong, MD;
Peter Lang, MD, FAAP, FACC
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