NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Reduced fees for SCMR membership - click here for more information.


SCMR-LAC Multicenter Registry is enrolling!

Contact us at jlaraf@fcm.unicamp.br to participate - Download the Instructional Manual here

SCMR-LAC on Twitter - follow us: http://twitter.com/scmrlac


Mar 31, 2011

Reporting Live from Brasilia - Brazilian Cardiovascular Imaging Meeting


Brazilian Society of Cardiology was one of the first in the world to unify all its imaging groups into a single Imaging Department. This has led to an annual Imaging Department Meeting, which is now on its third edition. More than 1000 participants from the country and LatAm are present with these year's lectures being much more interactive and multi-modality focused.

More information on: http://www.congressodepeco.com.br/

Tablets not so widespread in CMR


Half of the responders use tablets on daily practice. Still some ground to catch on and see the real application of these devices in CMR.

Mar 20, 2011

LGE in Endomyocardial Fibrosis Patients

Salemi et al from Heart Institute in Brazil just published a new manuscript assessing the diagnosis and prognosis of LGE in EMF in Circ Imaging. Congratulations on the group which has been very active in the last years in LatAm.

Salemi VM. Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2011 Mar 17. [Epub ahead of print] - Link here.

Mar 16, 2011

7T in vivo and ECG triggering


Brandts et al compared LV function analysis using 7T to the gold standard 1.5T. While the results were comparable, 20% of patients did not complete the exam due to ECG triggering problem. While this shows the potential of 7T it is rather bothersome to find 20% of failure rates, leading to the conclusion that new forms of gating will have to be developed if we are to go further than 3T.

Link here. Brandts A et al. MRM 2010;64:1471-7.

Mar 13, 2011

J Am Coll Cardiol Img, 2011

Evaluation of Techniques for the Quantification of Myocardial Scar of Differing Etiology Using Cardiac Magnetic Resonance

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the reproducibility of 7 late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) quantification techniques across 3 conditions in which LGE is known to be important: acute myocardial infarction (AMI), chronic myocardial infarction (CMI), and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Background: LGE by cardiac magnetic resonance is the gold-standard technique for assessing myocardial scar. No consensus exists on the best method for its quantification, and research in this area is scant. Techniques include manual quantification, thresholding by 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 SDs above remote myocardium, and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) technique. To date, LGE has been linked to outcome in 3 conditions: AMI, CMI, and HCM.

Methods: Sixty patients with 3 LGE etiologies (AMI, n = 20; CMI, n = 20; HCM, n = 20) were scanned for LGE. LGE volume was quantified using the 7 techniques. Mean LGE volume, interobserver and intraobserver reproducibility, and impact on sample size were assessed.

Results: LGE volume varied significantly with the quantification method used. There was no statistically significant difference between LGE volume by the FWHM, manual, and 6-SD or 5-SD techniques. The 2-SD technique generated LGE volumes up to 2 times higher than the FWHM, 6-SD, and manual techniques. The reproducibility of all techniques was worse in HCM than AMI or CMI. The FWHM technique was the most reproducible in all 3 conditions compared with any other method (p < 0.001). Use of the FWHM technique for LGE quantification in paired analysis would lead to at least a 60% reduction in required sample size compared with any other method.

Conclusions: Regardless of the disease under study, the FWHM technique for LGE quantification gives LGE volume mean results similar to manual quantification and is statistically the most reproducible, reducing required sample sizes by up to one-half.
Key Words: cardiac magnetic resonance • cardiomyopathy • imaging • myocardial infarction • SVCs

Mar 8, 2011

SCMR-LAC Ballot Info


This year we have to renew some positions in the SCMR Latin American Chapter. It is very important to get new people involved and to get fresh ideas onboard.

Positions for the 2011-2013 Latin American Working Group

1. Chair: represent the LAC inside SCMR; organize the other positions to keep focused goals; write a formal column in the newsletter;

2. Newsletter editor(s): write and/or organize the text for the LAC Newsletter every 3 months (4 editions/year – 2 pages); does not need to hard print the newsletter but provide it with content mostly.

3. Webpage/twitter editor(s): be responsible for at least weekly updates on both channels of communication for the LAC

4. Financial coordinator(s): as all know, the LAC has only raised funds for some of its meetings; however, with the webpage and newsletter and the over 100 physicians that follow the group we find that there are opportunities to gain some local funding from LatAm based companies.

5. Meeting coordinator(s): responsible to seek opportunities and organize with the host country local organizer the LAC meetings. The focus of the meetings is mainly to foster the use of CMR in the country which the meeting is hosted, usually within or together with a major cardiology/radiology meeting of the host country. The task is to find this country every year and work with the local committee to help the meeting take place yearly.


If you are a SCMR member or want to join SCMR and participate please let us know. You are allowed to join SCMR until March 31 to be eligible.

How the voting process will occur:

1. Candidates should send their names, position to be voted for and a 3-10 line mini-CV to jlaraf@fcm.unicamp.br until March 31 (Thursday)
2. All candidates will be checked for eligibility – if they are SCMR members or have just joined SCMR at this time.
3. All nominations will be announced on April 4 (Monday) and sent to SCMR Headquarters.
4. The ballot will be handled centrally to avoid any biases by SCMR Headquarters and will start one week after the announcement of the nominations
5. SCMR Latin American members will vote on the candidates for a period of 15 days
6. The new positions will be announced on April 19.

Please note that you can be candidate for more than one position and that some positions will accept more than one person.


Thanks in advance and feel free to write if you have any doubts. Please check the website to get more acquainted to our activities.


Juliano Lara Fernandes, MD, PhD
University of Campinas (Unicamp) - Brazil

Mar 6, 2011

T2 imaging - not so easy


According to readers of the blog, getting the sequences to work are not so straightforward suggesting more work is needed.