neuro to rads . . .

[Arctic Char]

so i love neurology. but my favorite thing about neuro is looking at films and interpreting the pathology. everything else about it is kind of lame. however, i'm a USIMG (Israel) so rads is a long shot - not impossible, but a longshot. i've considered doing neurology, and if i'm still interested switching to rads when i'm done. so, would this require doing 4 years of a traditional rads residency, or could it be attenuated by having so much previous GME?

thanks for the knowledge.

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[hans19]

so i love neurology. but my favorite thing about neuro is looking at films and interpreting the pathology. everything else about it is kind of lame. however, i'm a USIMG (Israel) so rads is a long shot - not impossible, but a longshot. i've considered doing neurology, and if i'm still interested switching to rads when i'm done. so, would this require doing 4 years of a traditional rads residency, or could it be attenuated by having so much previous GME?

thanks for the knowledge.

You may get a year's credit against the required 1 year clinical internship for your clinical work, but you'll still need to do 4 years of radiology. Furthermore, the way funding works, the government subsidizes your education with the hospital for the number of years designated by the residency you first match. IE neurology gets you 4 years of funding (including the internship), but radiology is a total of 5 years. Unless a radiology residency REALLY likes you and decides to eat 1 year of the costs of your training, it will be really difficult to change from neurology to radiology. It will be even more difficult land a radiology residency after you complete a residency and exhaust your funding.

The best option to try to match radiology the first time. If you don't match try to scramble or back up into something with 5 years of funding and try to get into a pgy-2 radiology spot when one comes open, it happens every year.

There are people who have done other residencies in the past and are now in radiology residency, however they have arranged deals with the military to subsidize their funding or they were originally in surgical specialties which gave them 5+ years of funding.

Good luck,

 

[Arctic Char]

thank you for the explanation. i really appreciate you spelling it out for me.

cheers

 

[Astrocyte]

so i love neurology. but my favorite thing about neuro is looking at films and interpreting the pathology. everything else about it is kind of lame. however, i'm a USIMG (Israel) so rads is a long shot - not impossible, but a longshot. i've considered doing neurology, and if i'm still interested switching to rads when i'm done. so, would this require doing 4 years of a traditional rads residency, or could it be attenuated by having so much previous GME?

thanks for the knowledge.

You don't love neurology. You love neuroradiology, or the lifestyle, or the money. Nothing wrong with that. Just get real. Every neurologist looks at imaging themselves to make diagnosis; they just cannot bill in most cases. So don't do the roundabout route. Just apply radiology. If you don't match, do a year of research, reapply.

 

[NeuroSync]

You don't love neurology. You love neuroradiology, or the lifestyle, or the money. Nothing wrong with that. Just get real. Every neurologist looks at imaging themselves to make diagnosis; they just cannot bill in most cases. So don't do the roundabout route. Just apply radiology. If you don't match, do a year of research, reapply.

I don't know. I love neuro, too, but I think I'll end up doing rads with a fellowship in neurorads. The reason? I think neuro is fascinating and lesion localization is fun. It is the mental challenge that I like. On the other hand, I like how broad one's knowledge must be with rads, and in its own way it is far more challenging. There is a reason why the residency is so long. It is my understanding that most docs who are neuroradiologist will still spend a large part of the time doing general diagnostic rads. When I look at the Purple Book, I'm both intrigued and intimidated. Also, the pace of neuro is sloooooow. I'd rather be busy and looking at a wide range of conditions. Also, everyone in my family is a neurologist, so I can say from first hand experience that there is interaction between neuro and radiology. The neurologist often consults the radiologist on tough cases. So I can understand why the OP may feel as he or she does.

 

[Molly Maquire]

I think there are a small number of programs that combine radiology and neurology into one residency. I don't know the details, but I remember they are at top academic centers.

Maybe you can match into either one at a univeristy hospital that has both residencies, and sort of create your own combined spot.

 

[Docmike2006]

so i love neurology. but my favorite thing about neuro is looking at films and interpreting the pathology. everything else about it is kind of lame. however, i'm a USIMG (Israel) so rads is a long shot - not impossible, but a longshot. i've considered doing neurology, and if i'm still interested switching to rads when i'm done. so, would this require doing 4 years of a traditional rads residency, or could it be attenuated by having so much previous GME?

thanks for the knowledge.

Look into fellowships of neurology. Interventional neurology (not a typo) and neuroimaging fellowships do exist.

 

[Bonobo]

My impression about the funding issue is a little different: the government as I understand will continue to provide funding, but at roughly 50-60% of its original total (which is around $120K including salary, benefits, insurance, and educational costs). So doing 4 years of radiology after neurology would deprive a program 2 years of funding. I know of four residents who have done this without much problem as far as I could tell.

Getting an additional year of credit is very difficult given board requirements, unless you plan to spend considerable time afterwards in radiology fellowships (e.g. 2 additional years in INR or diagnostic neuroradiology). But in these cases, you might be able to carve out a 3-year general radiology plan.

Neurologists can attend neuroimaging fellowships and INR fellowships without doing radiology. The former are usually wide open, but getting to actually bill for your own neuroimaging highly depends on where you work, the board of directors at whatever hospitals you work for, competition from other imagers, etc. The latter is now a very well accepted training pathway, but getting the fellowship in the first place is very competitive.

So if you are really interested in being a neuroradiology, it is FAR easier to simply do radiology--you will save yourself at least 2 years of training time. However, if you absolutely need clinical skills and want to be able to manage your patients in a hospital, then be prepared to work.

B