Cardiovascular Pathology

[Circumflex]

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I've looked for info on training in Cardiovascular Pathology and have not been able to find much - only a couple of fellowship listings on pathologyoutlines.com. Does anyone know people who have specialized in this area recently? The first pathologist I met was a forensic pathologist who did coronary and renal atherosclerosis work and he collected a huge number of samples through the Coroner's Office.

I'm starting residency in July with an open mind regarding the sub-specialty I want to pursue (I enjoy many aspects of path and could see myself in several sub-specialties). I'm definitely interested in an academic career and I like the idea of finding a niche that would allow me to do some basic research and still have some limited clinical duties. I enjoy autopsy pathology (in addition to surgical path) and am just thinking about options for incorporating CV basic research and clinical practice. I realize that it is a limited field with regard to reimbursement (post-transplant biospies and autopsies are the only uses that come to mind).

I just haven't seen much written about this area, it's after midnight, and I'm bored. What are your thoughts?

 

[yaah]

Cardiovascular pathology will have an extremely limited clinical component. We have a large institution with many transplants and there are a few heart transplant biopsies every week. But resection specimens are handled by general surgical pathologists because they are so rare (cardiac tumors) or so common and the pathologic exam is relatively unimportant (like the majority of heart valves and aortic resections). Obviously, experience will make a difference if you have a weird vasculitis that results in an aortic resection, but that is very uncommon. If you can find a spot at an academic center where you help out a lot with autopsies that is the best, but oftentimes these are far from priorities for departments, and unless you bring in money from outside the department they may not really be that interested in you. Combining forensics plus a cardiac expertise might be relevant and useful, but again people aren't going to be fighting over you.

That said, you have to do what you enjoy.

 

[mlw03]

along the lines of what yaah said, at my school two of the pathologists who lectured during the cardiovascular unit of the 2nd year path course are forensic pathologists by training. i think it's natural for a forensic pathologist to have expertise in things like atherosclerosis, CAD/myocardial infarction and its sequelae, aortic dissections, aortic aneurysms, and cerebral aneurysms because they are all common causes of death.

 

[Anna Plastic]

I've looked for info on training in Cardiovascular Pathology and have not been able to find much - only a couple of fellowship listings on pathologyoutlines.com. Does anyone know people who have specialized in this area recently? The first pathologist I met was a forensic pathologist who did coronary and renal atherosclerosis work and he collected a huge number of samples through the Coroner's Office.

I'm starting residency in July with an open mind regarding the sub-specialty I want to pursue (I enjoy many aspects of path and could see myself in several sub-specialties). I'm definitely interested in an academic career and I like the idea of finding a niche that would allow me to do some basic research and still have some limited clinical duties. I enjoy autopsy pathology (in addition to surgical path) and am just thinking about options for incorporating CV basic research and clinical practice. I realize that it is a limited field with regard to reimbursement (post-transplant biospies and autopsies are the only uses that come to mind).

I just haven't seen much written about this area, it's after midnight, and I'm bored. What are your thoughts?

Check out Duke Pathology. One of the CV pathologists there actually trained in general and cardiovascular surgery. He is amazing.