Abdominal Imaging

The standard curriculum is composed of 13 four week blocks in the following components:

• Body MRI (5 blocks)
• Body CT (3 blocks)
• Ultrasound (2 blocks)
• Float/Elective (3 blocks)

Electives include thoracic imaging, neuroradiology, musculoskeletal imaging, nuclear medicine, PET/CT, pediatrics, interventional radiology, cardiovascular imaging, breast imaging, GI/GU, and research elective.

The UNC body fellowship now offers an optional Cardiovascular imaging module. As an alternative to the elective period, the fellow will spend two days per month in cardiovascular MR/CT. At the end of the fellowship year, it is expected that the fellow will have completed the case requirements for Cardiovascular Computed tomography as outlined in the ACR practice guidelines.

There is also an option for Women’s Imaging (combined abdominal and breast) and Cardiopulmonary-Abdominal (combined chest and abdominal) fellowships. Note that these are available depending on the availability of the respective section and would include time equally split between the two divisions (6 months/6 months).

Alternative curriculums are available to suit the needs and interests of individual fellows.

MR

We have 11 clinical MR systems: There are three 1.5 T Avanto magnets equipped with cardiac software, a 1.5T Sonata, a 1.5T Symphony, a 3.0T Trio system and a 3.0T Skyra. Our 3T and 7T MR/PET units are housed in our research building. We have a high volume abdominal and pelvic MR service, bolstered by a large liver and renal transplant service and a robust MR/TRUS fusion biopsy program.

CT

We have two 16 slice, one dual source, three 64 slice and two 128 slice spiral CT units and 3 combination PET/CT scanners (one a 40 slice). This is a high volume service with a wide diversity of cases from our emergency department, cancer center, inpatient and outpatient settings. CT is a robust service with approximately 50-75 CTs performed daily.

US

There are 13 ultrasound machines, including Siemens S3000, Ge LogiqE9 and Philips IU 22 with state-of-the-art software, including pulse inversion harmonics, contrast-enhanced ultrasound experiencs, elastography and 3D. In addition to image interpretation, ultrasound-guided procedures are performed on this service. We perform approximately 150-200 guided thyroid and lymph node biopsies each year.

GI/GU

There are 6 digital fluoroscopy rooms in our main hospital. On this rotation, fellows perform and supervise inpatient and outpatient genitourinary and gastrointestinal fluoroscopic procedures and interpret abdominal plain films.

The educational component of the department’s mission is a top priority to the abdominal imaging section. The Abdominal Division is comprised of ten in-house faculty, who actively mentor our fellows while they perform their clinical and research activities. Multidisciplinary conferences and frequent consults provide ample opportunities for clinical collaboration and feedback.

In addition to daily resident lectures, we host a dedicated fellows lecture series covering subjects such as advanced imaging techniques and MRI physics.

To learn more about our faculty, click here.

Currently, members of the faculty are involved in multiple areas of research including ultrasound contrast agents, alternative MR contrast agents, imaging in fatty liver disease, MR imaging of endovascular stents, as well as participating in national, multicenter cardiac imaging trials.

In addition to clinical facilities, there are ongoing research projects and opportunities at UNC’s Biomedical Research Imaging Center (BRIC). BRIC was formed in 2005 to support image-based biomedical research across the UNC System and is a statewide resource serving researchers across the state of North Carolina in a central facility that handles the acquisition, processing, analysis, storage, and retrieval of images. The center is located one block south of the UNC Hospital building and houses both human and animal imaging equipment, including a 7T whole-body MRI, multinuclear capable 3T MRI, PET/MRI, Cyclotron, and a full complement of small animal imaging modalities. Multiple clinical trials and research studies are performed on these systems.

On-call responsibilities involves one week of attending-level CT and US calls approximately every 7-8 weeks.

Fellows earn 4 weeks (20 days) of vacation for the year with an additional week of vacation over the Christmas/New Years’ holidays.

Fellows will have the opportunity for internal and external moonlighting hours.