Cardio-Thoracic Fellowship

[Blitz2006]

Ok,

So my follow-up question:

Lets say as an IMG, I do match into General Surgery..

Now after my General Surgery, I decided to do fellowship in Cardio-Thoracic...when I apply for this fellowship, am I in the same pool as regular "US Grads", or will I still be considered an IMG, even though I did my GS residency in the U.S?

Thanks.

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[Blade28]

I think you'll be considered the same as the rest of the residents.

Don't forget CT Surg fellowships aren't too competitive right now.

 

[Castro Viejo]

Ok,

So my follow-up question:

Lets say as an IMG, I do match into General Surgery..

Now after my General Surgery, I decided to do fellowship in Cardio-Thoracic...when I apply for this fellowship, am I in the same pool as regular "US Grads", or will I still be considered an IMG, even though I did my GS residency in the U.S?

I believe you'll still be categorized as an IMG.

The tables published by NRMP regarding the matches for the various subspecialty fellowships/residencies in surgery suggest that numbers are being calculated separately for US MD grads, US DO grads, US IMG grads, and Foreign IMG grads.

Recent discussion at STS meetings regarding the future of CTS talk of the increasing numbers of IMG graduates in CTS residencies, and that this is a clear indication of the non-competitive nature of CTS residency matching.

At the 2006 SVS meeting some administrator-types talked of how to increase the number of US MD graduates entering fellowship and decreasing the number of US DOs, US IMGs, and Foreign IMGs.

I don't know how much of a weight is placed on where you went to med school, but based on these data, it seems it's still considered significant. Then again, there's so much more that will go into your fellowship application: your program's reputation, LORs, ABSITE scores, USMLE scores, research, etc., that all that stuff may very well overshadow your IMG status.

Good luck.

 

[Blade28]

Ah, I stand corrected. Thanks for the info!

 

[Winged Scapula]

At the 2006 SVS meeting some administrator-types talked of how to increase the number of US MD graduates entering fellowship and decreasing the number of US DOs, US IMGs, and Foreign IMGs.

 

[Castro Viejo]

I know, I know. It's hard to believe that in 2007 this kind of thing still exists.

 

[surgeryluv1]

Since you bigwigs of SDN are in the mood of answering questions,

What is the future of General Thoracic Surgery like? Is it doomed like Cardiac surgery or these are practically the same thing?

I read somewhere that General Thoracic Surgery will be fine as a lot of surgeons will be retiring in teh coming years.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Since you bigwigs of SDN are in the mood of answering questions,

What is the future of General Thoracic Surgery like? Is it doomed like Cardiac surgery or these are practically the same thing?

I read somewhere that General Thoracic Surgery will be fine as a lot of surgeons will be retiring in teh coming years.

Same thing, mostly. Although you will find people who do only do thoracic (ie, no hearts), generally there is not enough business to do so. It is expected that lung cases will decrease along with the decrease in lung CA (although thanks to women still smoking the number is still rising for them). There are some non-lung chest cases as well, but again, these are not everyday sorts of things.

The advantage, if you will, of general thoracic is that many procedures cannot be replaced by an interventionalist and obviously by a cardiologist.

 

[Castro Viejo]

Since you bigwigs of SDN are in the mood of answering questions,

What is the future of General Thoracic Surgery like? Is it doomed like Cardiac surgery or these are practically the same thing?

I read somewhere that General Thoracic Surgery will be fine as a lot of surgeons will be retiring in teh coming years.

Possibly, but who can really predict the future?

Thoracic only jobs are out there and are more numerous than Cardiac jobs, but still the supply of Thoracic surgeons is way more than the demand for them.

Thoracic surgery on its own is probably not threatened by any other group, unless the Pulmonologists are gonna figure something far out with their bronchoscopes, so it'll always be there but as Kim Cox mentioned, there just aren't enough throacic cases to go around to feed everyone.

My advice if you're interested in CTS is to stick with a top-notch academic program and don't even consider the community centers that have such residencies. The few jobs out there for CTS are going to be looking at the guys coming out of places like Duke and Baylor, not community places.

 

[Blade28]

As my experience in the thoracic lab here has shown, there's always lung transplants for you to consider if doing General Thoracic!

 

[Winged Scapula]

As my experience in the thoracic lab here has shown, there's always lung transplants for you to consider if doing General Thoracic!

Yeah, but how many rats *really* need lung transplants?

 

[Castro Viejo]

As my experience in the thoracic lab here has shown, there's always lung transplants for you to consider if doing General Thoracic!

Do transplant guys do lung transplants too or is that exclusive to the chest cutters of the world?

 

[lura]

I believe it is a sub-fellowship following CT fellowship, ie fellowship trained transplant surgeons typically stick to abdomenal organs.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I believe it is a sub-fellowship following CT fellowship, ie fellowship trained transplant surgeons typically stick to abdomenal organs.

That would be my experience as well...transplant trained surgeons stick with abdominal procedures and the chest guys do the chest procedures (with or without additional fellowship training).

 

[Blade28]

Do transplant guys do lung transplants too or is that exclusive to the chest cutters of the world?

From my experience (working with the Renal Transplant, Liver Transplant and Thoracic services here), there are two choices:

(1) General Surgery residency + Transplant fellowship = attending who does liver and kidney transplants

(2) General Surgery residency + Cardiothoracic fellowship = attending who can do lung transplants (among other procedures)

For those guys who do transplants of islet cells, pancreases, small bowels, etc., I have no idea if they have extra training.