Body Imaging Question:
Greetings and salutations,
Thanks so much for your educative content. I have benefited immensely. Please, what is body imaging (Radiology sub-specialty)? What exactly does it mean/entail? How is it different from Abdominal Radiology and Gastrointestinal Radiology subspecialties? And, are body imaging specialists privileged to carry out interventional radiology (vascular and non-vascular) procedures involving the part(s) of the body in which they specialize?
Thanks so much,
Possible future body imager
Answer:
It’s a great series of questions that you have asked because it is more complicated than what you might think at first glance. First of all, let’s talk about body imaging. Body imaging covers many different areas. To that point, some folks say that practicing this specialty is like saying you will practice all of radiology. That is because radiology covers the whole body!
Defining Body Imaging
But, if you look at most of these fellowships, they cover at least some of the following areas- gastrointestinal, abdominal, MSK, thoracic, cardiac, genitourinary, and breast. Because of this variability, there is no MQSA for these sorts of fellowships. And, if you look under this category or do a google search and see what they include, any one of them may emphasize any of these subspecialties within radiology. So, if you are interested in “body imaging,” you need to look at the fine print. Then, check out what the fellowship covers.
Moreover, a common approach for these advanced specialty programs is to cover six months in one of these areas and another six months in a different subspecialty. Or, it can emphasize more interventional biopsy type of training. Regardless, the topics can vary widely, and what you should look for depends on your interests for practice. As to your other question, abdominal and gastrointestinal radiology are just some of the areas that a fellowship can teach.
To answer your third question, yes, lots of body imagers do perform interventional procedures. And, no, you do not need to be an IR doctor or even a body image trained specialist to do many interventional sorts of procedures. Just make sure you have excellent training during your residency or body imaging fellowship, and that should be adequate for practice!
I hope that helps with your questions!
Barry Julius, MD
