TUSTIN, CA - Strengthening its position as a leader in medical education and improved patient care, Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. has announced a partnership with CVCTA Education to provide a Peripheral Vascular CTA (PV-CTA) training course. This course will be the first of its kind to exceed current ACCF/AHA Level 2 requirements in the ACCF/AHA Clinical Competence Statement on Cardiac Imaging with Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance.

Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD) refers to diseases of the blood vessels outside the heart and brain where there is a narrowing of vessels carrying blood to the legs, arms, stomach and/or kidneys. The most common type of PVD is Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) in which arteries leading to these same regions develop blockages that restrict blood circulation. PVD is common in patients predisposed to vascular diseases, such as those suffering from diabetes. According to an article in Cardiovascular Imaging, an estimated 20-million people have PVD, with three to four million people going misdiagnosed or untreated.

"PV-CTA is one of the most accurate and important non-invasive diagnostic tools available to detect PVD in patients reporting symptoms and in those who are asymptomatic," said Doug Ryan, senior director, CT Business Unit. "Partnering with CVCTA Education to offer a comprehensive PV-CTA educational course is a step toward ensuring that PVD is properly detected and treated."

The PV-CTA training course will be offered at CVCTA Training Centers in San Francisco, New York and Houston, several times per month with the first course starting in September. The course will use a blend of online learning and in-person training on Toshiba's leading Aquilion CT scanners. Students will complete six hours of online didactics covering a review of anatomy and function, as well as findings and reporting. Also, in one day of hands-on workstation training, the students will be mentored on more than 25 cases of varying pathology. Students also will work on more than 75 cases via CVCTA's proprietary MedMind CTA training software.

Created by Dr. Peter Fail from the Cardiovascular Institute of the South and Dr. Tony DeFrance from CVCTA, the PV-CTA course will provide students with more than 100 mentored cases with a wide variety of pathology, therefore exceeding the anticipated Level 2 requirements set by the ACCF and AHA. In total, the student will receive 40 hours of CME credit.

"At CVCTA Education, we are committed to continually improving patient care by offering state-of-the-art education to the medical community," said Dr. Tony DeFrance, Medical Director of CVCTA Education. "Additionally, PV-CTA will play an important role in helping imaging centers and hospitals educate the community on the emerging information and issues regarding the overall impact of PVD and the value of this diagnostic tool."