Recommendations from the Association for European Paediatric Cardiology for training in diagnostic and interventional cardiac catheterisation

Abstract

IN PATIENTS WITH congenital cardiac disease includes both diagnostic studies and interventional treatment. Diagnoses include a wide range of congenital and acquired cardiac lesions. The patients range from neonates to adulthood. With the introduction of non-invasive diagnostic techniques such as echocardiography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging, the need for invasive diagnostic studies has decreased. At the same time, treatment by catheter intervention techniques has steadily increased. At present, diagnostic invasive studies are mostly limited to more complex cases. As opposed to echocardiography and MRI, cardiac catheterisation and catheter intervention are unique for their invasive nature and the fact that in many cases, treatment is part of the procedure. 1,2 These trends have implications for doctors in training for cardiac catheterisation and catheter intervention. This document summarises the requirements for training in diagnostic and interventional cardiac catheterisation, which should be provided at three levels, basic, intermediate, and advanced and should include both knowledge and skills. 3–5 It does not include recommendations for invasive electrophysiology.