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Diagnostic Radiology

Diagnostic Radiology

Scott Brandman, M.D., researched 12 radiology residency programs while attending the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine. “I was looking for a program that was small enough to allow me to get to know the attendings and develop a professional relationship with them so that I could receive as much clinical responsibility as possible,” he said. “Saint Raphael’s Radiology department has fellowship-trained attendings in all disciplines. Many of them have university hospital backgrounds and maintain an interest in getting residents involved in research. It’s a rare combination that attracted me to the hospital.” Dr. Brandman was quick to appreciate that the department’s equipment rivals that of university-based departments, and he was impressed with the attendings’ interest in getting to know him on a personal level. “It’s always fun coming to work because the residents and attendings have such a good working relationship,” he said.

Four-year residency training for 16 residents

The Department of Radiology at the Hospital of Saint Raphael offers a four-year residency-training program for 16 total residents. Through the National Resident Matching Program, we accept the best-qualified medical students from a pool of more than 400 applicants each year. All program graduates in the last five years have achieved ABR certification. For the last five years, the first-time written and oral board pass rates have been at or above the national average. Our most recent group of residents has ranked in the top third of training programs for Clinical Radiology board test performance.

Saint Raphael’s Radiology residents have achieved and maintained professional success for several reasons. After completing a one-year internship approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), residents enter a four-year program that grounds them in basic radiologic sciences and extensive clinical training in nuclear medicine, ultrasound, CT scanning, MRI, neuroradiology, neurointerventional techniques, and vascular and interventional radiology. Within the department, educational conferences are typically held twice a day, one at 7:45 am and another at noon. Radiology faculty teach residents key diagnostic imaging concepts on a two-year lecture cycle, and residents actively participate in preparing learning conferences, as well.

One of the first hospitals with the 3 Tesla MRI

Each year, four new PGY 2 residents are accepted into the program, which is affiliated with Yale University School of Medicine. The program offers up-to-date equipment to generate and interpret diagnostic images, including 64-slice MDCT, PET, combined PET/CT, 1.5 and 3 Tesla MRI, state-ofthe-art ultrasound and fluoroscopy equipment, and digital mammography. Saint Raphael’s was one of the first hospitals in Connecticut to install a 3 Tesla MRI, resulting in detailed imaging of the brain, spine, body and musculoskeletal system. On rotations with MRI emphasis (body, musculoskeletal and neuroradiology rotations), residents work closely with their attendings to review and dictate MRI cases while applying some of the most current techniques, including cardiac MRI, MR spectroscopy, MR cholangiography, bowel imaging (i.e., MR enterography) and vascular imaging.

Residents learn how to protocol and interpret multidetector CT images for the noninvasive diagnosis of various cardiothoracic, abdominal, pelvic, neural and vascular diseases. Residents participate in interpretation of CT angiography, coronary artery imaging, coronary calcium screening and virtual 3D imaging, such as CT colonoscopy. Our Radiology department has been filmless for more than five years, using a Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) to electronically save and store radiographic images. Our residents perform or see the majority of the more than 170,000 diagnostic examinations and interventional procedures performed in Saint Raphael’s Radiology department each year.

Diversified experiences

The Hospital of Saint Raphael has a modern, spacious, inpatient and outpatient Radiology department that addresses the needs of a diverse population. All Saint Raphael inpatient beds are considered radiology teaching beds, providing residents with a wide spectrum of clinical material and experiences. You will work closely with more than 20 board-certified radiologists, many of whom hold clinical appointments at Yale University School of Medicine. With them, you will review case studies daily and learn how to perform procedures, among them fluoroscopy, myelography, arthrography, arteriography, venography, angioplasty, vascular stenting, CT and ultrasound guided biopsy and drainage, and nuclear medicine procedures. Also, while working side-by-side with radiology faculty, you will learn how to interpret CT and magnetic resonance imaging exams. As a more senior resident, you will become familiar with mammographic screening as well as more advanced techniques, such as stereotactic, ultrasound guided, and MR guided breast biopsy. (Turn to the back pocket of this booklet for Radiology faculty biographies.)

Core rotations are performed at Saint Raphael’s, with additional pediatric radiology training taking place at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and Yale-New Haven Hospital. As a third-year resident, you will attend the renowned four-week course in radiologic-pathologic correlation at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., with tuition paid by Saint Raphael’s. This program offers an excellent overview of all body systems prior to the American Board of Radiology certifying exam.

Each year, members of the Yale physics department teach a comprehensive course in radiologic physics to the first- and second-year Radiology residents. This course is co-sponsored by Yale-New Haven Hospital and Saint Raphael’s department of Radiology. Topics of instruction include the physics of X-ray production, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, CT, MRI, mammography and radiation biology and protection. This course helps residents prepare for the American Board of Radiology Physics examination.

Teaching conferences, grand rounds, journal clubs and more

At Saint Raphael’s, residents take part in daily teaching conferences, radiology grand rounds, monthly journal clubs, and monthly interdisciplinary conferences attended by physicians and residents from Saint Raphael’s departments of gastroenterology, oncology, and pulmonary medicine, among others. You are also required to complete at least one research project during your four years here, and are encouraged to use Radiology faculty as mentors. Recent and ongoing research studies have focused on topics related to CT imaging following gastric bypass surgery, MDCT of pulmonary embolism, MRI of breast cancer, MR brain spectroscopy, cardiac MRI, vascular embolization, MR enterography, contrast dose reduction in brain MRI, and many others. PGY 5s are given the opportunity to present their work to the department and the Saint Raphael medical community at a special annual, year-end academic activity.

In the last several years, our residents have participated in the introduction to research initiatives sponsored by the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) and Radiology Society of North America (RSNA). Our residents have presented abstracts and scientific exhibits at recent ARRS and RSNA national meetings. One recent project presented at the 93rd annual meeting of the RSNA was focused on the topic of MRI evaluation of cardiac shunts and valvular lesions. A presentation on MR imaging of cardiomyopathies was awarded a bronze medal at the ARRS 2006 meeting. One of our residents recently co-authored a chapter on head and neck infections for the ARRS 2008 categorical course.

Page last updated on Dec. 12, 2008