The front desk staff will page a CVI fellow who will meet them there and start with the session.
The primary studies interpreted within this section include CT and MR angiograms (CTA/MRA) and venograms (CTV/MRV) of the chest, abdomen, pelvis, and lower extremities as well as cardiac CT and cardiac MRI. At the Brigham, this division exists as a cooperative between radiology and cardiology, and many of the cardiology-specific nuclear medicine studies (nuclear stress tests) are also interpreted here. CTA/MRA is valuable for evaluating for aneurysms of the aorta and its branch vessels, peripheral vascular disease (CTA/MRA with runoff), mesenteric ischemia, aortitis (infectious or autoimmune), and sequelae of trauma (dissection, intramural hematoma, rupture). CTV/MRV is most commonly used to evaluate for thrombosis of veins not amenable to evaluation/compression by ultrasound, such as the veins within the pelvis, the IVC, and the SVC. While there are numerous specialized applications for cardiac CT and MRI, cardiac CT is most commonly used to evaluate for the presence of coronary artery disease (calcium scoring performed without contrast, coronary CTA performed with IV contrast), and cardiac MR is often used to differentiate hibernating myocardium (function likely to improve with revascularization) from nonviable myocardium (“delayed myocardial enhancement,” function unlikely to improve) in patients with known CAD being considered for coronary revascularization.
The cardiovascular reading room is located on L2 in the Shapiro building (see BWH Pike map).