Issued: March 26, 2020
SCMR COVID-19 Statement 

On March 25, SCMR released a statement addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, a COVID-19 Preparedness Toolkit, and a blog for sharing your experiences and to ask questions.  

These recommendations are not a substitute for your institutional policies but rather provide guidance for your CMR practice which may be useful in collaboration with your institution.
CMR Community Re-Aligning for COVID-19 Research

In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, CMR departments are closing to all but emergency scans, with clinicians re-deployed to ward and critical care cover. The need for high quality research is however greater than ever, and barriers are being broken down to deliver this.
 
At Barts Heart Centre and UCL in London the team (led by Professor James Moon) are leading an international study in collaboration with Professor Ntobeko Ntusi at University of Cape Town to understand the immunological and genetic factors determining COVID-19 disease severity. Data and samples are collected weekly from healthcare workers over the next 16 weeks, the majority of whom will be exposed and of whom a proportion will develop severe disease. The over 50,000 samples that this will generate will be disseminated worldwide to the best scientists for further analysis to enable novel insights into the disease. 
SCMR Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Statement

The Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Our people are the most valuable asset we have. The collective sum of their individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, innovation, self-expression, and talent represents a significant part of our culture and reputation.  Our Society embraces and encourages diversity such as in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make our membership unique.
Standardized Image Interpretation and Post-Processing in Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance - 2020 Update

Authors: Jeanette Schulz-Menger, David A. Bluemke, Jens Bremerich, Scott D. Flamm, Mark A. Fogel, Matthias G. Friedrich, Raymond J. Kim, Florian von Knobelsdorff-Brenkenhoff, Christopher M. Kramer, Dudley J. Pennell, Sven Plein & Eike Nagel 

With mounting data on its accuracy and prognostic value, cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is becoming an increasingly important diagnostic tool with growing utility in clinical routine. Given its versatility and wide range of quantitative parameters, however, agreement on specific standards for the interpretation and post-processing of CMR studies is required to ensure consistent quality and reproducibility of CMR reports. This document addresses this need by providing consensus recommendations developed by the Task Force for Post-Processing of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR). The aim of the Task Force is to recommend requirements and standards for image interpretation and post-processing enabling qualitative and quantitative evaluation of CMR images. Furthermore, pitfalls of CMR image analysis are discussed where appropriate. It is an update of the original recommendations published 2013.

Opportunities to Get Involved with SCMR

SCMR is looking for interested candidates for two opportunities. The first is a call for  Associate Editors for the SCMR Case of the Week. Associate Editors will work with interesting and educational cases that are showcased in the SCMR's  Case of the Week section. To apply, submit an application via this form by April 19.

The second opportunity is for anyone who has an interest in social media. SCMR's Communication Committee is launching a Social Media Sub-Committee Group. To apply, submit a volunteer form by March 31.

"How I Do" CMR Series

The  SCMR Clinical Practice Committee, has created an  educational series for SCMR members that demonstrate how members perform specific CMR scans.* There are a total of 13 "How I Do" presentations now available, some are available in Italian and Spanish, and more are coming soon. 

If you have additional questions, submit them to the  CMR Practice Advisory Group. E xperienced CMR volunteers will provide advice, assistance, and mentoring for physicians starting and developing Cardiovascular MRI programs.

*These represent personal opinions for your information and are not official SCMR policy.
JCMR Articles


Christopher M. Kramer, et al.
Published on: 24 February 2020


Kuniaki Hirai, et al.
Published on: 13 February 2020

Gordon A. Begg, et al.
Published on: 10 Feburary 2020


Melanie T.P. Le, et al.
Published on: 06 February 2020


Haikun Qi, et al.
Published on: 03 February 2020

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