Cardiac MRI: Radiography Techniques and Clinical Applications

This course enables you to study the principles of Cardiac MRI and its common clinical applications in a variety of cardiac conditions. It will provide background knowledge on the physics of MRI and suggest optimisation techniques for improved image quality and a robust patient safety framework.

The opportunity to practice cardiac planning on a dedicated virtual space and to observe an optimal cardiac MRI examination with explanation will be offered

This program features hands-on practice using Corsmed's digital MRI simulator. You'll operate a realistic virtual scanner on your computer to practice slice planning, parameters, and image optimization. You won't just read about theory. You'll apply it.

Who is it for?

This course is tailored to address the needs of busy clinical practitioners, residents or research fellows who have just started working in cardiac MRI. It is also a useful course for those who have clinical experience without the theoretical underpinnings.

Timetable

Term 3 - 2026/7 (provisional dates)

Apr: Monday 26, Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 (Online) April 2027

Tutorial:Monday 17 May 2027

Benefits

This is a fast, comprehensive cardiac MRI course taught by experts, and it provides clinical practitioners with the opportunity to practice cardiac MRI planning and examinations using a specialised virtual teaching software, which City Postgraduate Radiography has secured for its students.

This short course module is designed to be flexible in allowing you to study and reach your goals at your own pace. Our health CPD courses are credit-bearing modules that contribute to a University degree or award.

Transfer course credits towards postgraduate taught degree

As a health care professional, once you've completed this course you could offset 15 credits as part of a postgraduate programme, continuing your study with further modules to make up a Postgraduate Certificate (PGCert) 60 credits, Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) 120 credits or Master of Science (MSc) 180 credits qualification (all credits must be awarded within five years of study commencing).

This course will discuss patient safety and patient care in cardiac MRI, including preparation for the ECG. It offers a refresher on the related physical principles and expands further on planning, MRI sequences used for imaging cardiac anatomy and function. You will also learn detailed cardiac anatomy and frequently encountered pathology. You will interact with anonymised video-recorded examples of clinical MRI examinations acquired by an expert cardiac MRI radiographer to allow for group discussion and further learning. This course is taught by academic experts and experienced clinical practitioners in cardiac MRI from collaborating teaching hospitals.

By the end of the course you will be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge and understanding

• Examine the currently available cardiac MRI sequences and their optimal use to highlight cardiac anatomy and function in normal development and in different cardiovascular disorders.
• Explore different sequences and imaging techniques to optimise patient care and image quality.
• Consider the need of a robust MRI safety framework for cardiac MRI to ensure a safe examination, including for patients with a pacemaker.
• Critically evaluate and synthesise literature on state-of-the-art clinical practice and contemporary research work related to this topic.

Skills

• Explore the importance of the correct patient positioning, monitoring and preparation for a successful cardiac MRI examination.
• Examine the different cardiac planning techniques to achieve a successful cardiac MRI examination.
• Recognise basic cardiac anatomy and pathology.
• Discuss recommendations for future research and its potential benefit in advancing clinical practice and patient experience.

Values and attitudes

• Demonstrate respect for the intellectual work of others in the field by accurate referencing of published work.
• Respect privacy and confidentiality.
• Consider the ethical and practical implications of the lack of clear patient-centred care guidelines in your practice.

Teaching

You’ll be learning in lectures, tutorials, online discussion and forum activities, alongside self-directed study, using relevant scientific and grey literature, and resources.

Your lectures will be taught on campus, in person, alongside other Postgraduate Radiography students of the MSc in MRI programme. For the online discussions you will have the chance to learn from academic experts and experienced clinical practitioners and ask them questions about the imaging technique, patient care and cardiovascular conditions. You will also be encouraged to use class discussions in the online forum to interact with your colleagues and get advice from your course leader during your self-study time.

Assessment

You will be assessed through a 2,500-word written essay on a cardiac MRI case study of your choice.

Learning Routes

This module has two routes namely, "CPD for attendance only" and "CPD for credits":

1. CPD “for attendance only” route: for students that wish to take this module as attendance only, this will grant you access to all lectures and online learning materials on Moodle. However, this route does not include the assessments, therefore you will not achieve any academic credits upon completion. A 25% discount is applied to the module fee. You will also receive a certificate of attendance at the end of the academic term.

2. CPD “for credits” route (Attendance & Assessment): for students that wish to take this module with assessments, this route will grant you access to all the lectures and online learning materials on Moodle. Upon successful completion of the assessment, you will have achieved the respective academic credits, as per individual module (there will range from 15 to 30 credits). No discount is applied to the module and the full fee will need to be paid.

For attendance only: 25% discount applied to the full fee (Please note: fees for overseas students will be a different rate, as per original fees on website)

For credit: (Attendance & Assessment): Full fees apply, as per individual module.

This course is provided by the School of Health & Medical Sciences.

Credits

This course is worth 15 credits toward eligible programmes.

This course is open as CPD to everyone in the UK , Europe and beyond or as part of our Master’s programme, with certain entry conditions, as you can find below and on the website.

• Applicants will normally hold a BSc (Hons) degree (2:2 or above) in Radiography or an equivalent discipline from a UK institution
• Appropriate professional qualifications e.g. Diploma of the College of Radiographers
• International qualifications in Radiography will have to be reviewed by our international team - they may only be acceptable if equivalent to a level 6 UK degree (BSc degree). Both originals and certified translations will have to be submitted to our programme team, before your application can be considered
• Non-standard entrants will be considered on a case-by-case basis, subject to availability of places on the programme (early application is recommended). Interviews might be arranged for these candidates, if the programme team feels necessary.

English requirements

If your first language is not English, one of the following is required:

• A first degree from a UK university
• A first degree from an overseas institution recognised by City, University of London as providing adequate evidence of proficiency in the English language, for example, from institutions from Australia, Canada or the United States of America.
• International English Language Test Service (IELTS) a score of 7.0 is required with no subtest below 7.0
• Pearson Test of English (Academic) score 72 required
• TOEFL 100 overall with 24 in Writing, 20 in Listening, 19 Reading and 20 Speaking
• Other evidence of proficiency in the English language, which satisfies the board of studies concerned, including registration with your professional regulator.

• Constantinides, Christakis ,Protocols and Methodologies in Basic Science and Clinical Cardiac MRI, Springer 2018
• Syed, Mushabbar A., Raman, Subha V., Simonetti, Orlando P. Basic Principles of Cardiovascular MRI, Springer 2015
• Captur G, Manisty C, Moon JCCardiac MRI Evaluation of Myocardial Disease. Heart 2016;102:1429-1435.
• Michael Salerno, MD, PhD, Behzad Sharif, PhD, Håkan Arheden, MD, PhD, Andreas Kumar, MD, MSc, Leon Axel, MD, PhD, Debiao Li, PhD, and Stefan Neubauer Recent Advances in Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Techniques and Applications, Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2017 Jun; 10(6): e003951. doi: 10.1161/CIRCIMAGING.116.003951