Neuroimaging fellowships

[Robotneurologist]

Hello, I'm a current m3 debating between neurology and rads but leaning heavily towards neurology. I've looked through the old neuroimaging threads which are super old by now and just have a couple of questions about the fellowship.

First off are there any neurologists on this forum trained in neuroimaging? If there are could you give me some insight into how the fellowship training plays into your daily practice?

Are these fellowships competitive in the neurology world? And are neuroimaging trained neurologists in demand at all? For instance would it help in finding a job or would it be more for satisfying my personal want to read imaging here and there?

Thanks.

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[typhoonegator]

I know two people who did neuroimaging fellowships after neurology residency. Neither is reading images and billing for them today. But they're really good at reading MRIs, I guess. There aren't that many "fellowships" for this, so it might be hard to get a spot, but I wouldn't call them competitive, per se. Mostly because very few find a way to turn that training into a remunerative benefit to their career, and the time spent training has a defined opportunity-cost. You learn a lot about interpreting MRIs during residency as part of your practical training, and many neurologists are involved in neuroimaging research, very few of whom have gone through one of these training programs.

Also, just like anything else, if you did one of these fellowships and somehow got credentialed and allowed to read neuroimaging studies at your institution, and the insurance companies agreed to pay you for them, then you would need to routinely practice this skill to maintain competence. There wouldn't be any reading of scans "here and there". You can do that already as a neurologist, just not bill for them.

 

[El Curandero]

Do radiologists read epilepsy MRIs or do neurologists do it/bill for it? It seems like the reason most neurologists aren't billing for imaging because it is an inefficient time use but what if you could add it into reading EEG studies and the like? In a way this would be a more streamlining process but I'm just a med student.

 

[Thama]

The only person I know who did neurology residency and is now billing for MRIs also had to do a diagnostic radiology residency. If your goal is to bill for reading images you should probably skip your first residency.

 

[badasshairday]

If you want to be a radiologist be a radiologist. If you want to be a neurologist be a neurologist. Don't try to half ass either one of these disciplines.