Program Requirements for Residency/Fellowship Education in Neuroendovascular Surgery/Interventional Neuroradiology: A Special Report on Graduate Medical Education

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Neuroendovascular surgery/interventional neuroradiology is a relatively new subspecialty that has been evolving since the mid-1970s. During the past 2 decades, significant advances have been made in this field of minimally invasive therapy for the treatment of intracranial cerebral aneurysms; acute stroke therapy intervention; cerebral arteriovenous malformations; carotid cavernous sinus fistulas; head, neck, and spinal cord vascular lesions; and other complex cerebrovascular diseases. Advanced postresidency fellowship programs have now been established in North America, Europe, and Japan, specifically for training in this new subspecialty.

METHODS: From 1986 to the present, an ad hoc committee of senior executive committee members from the American Society of Interventional and Therapeutic Neuroradiology, the Joint Section of Cerebrovascular Neurosurgery, and the American Society of Neuroradiology met to establish, by consensus, general guidelines for training physicians in this field.

RESULTS: In April 1999, the Executive Committee of the Joint Section of Cerebrovascular Neurosurgery voted unanimously to endorse these training standard guidelines. In May 1999, the Executive Committee of the American Society of Interventional and Therapeutic Neuroradiology and the American Society of Neuroradiology also unanimously voted to endorse these guidelines. In June 1999, the Executive Council of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons unanimously voted to endorse these guidelines.

CONCLUSION: The following guidelines for residency/fellowship education have now been endorsed by the parent organization of both the interventional and diagnostic neuroradiology community, as well as both senior organizations representing neurosurgery in North America. These guidelines for training should be used as a reference and guide to any institution establishing a training program in neuroendovascular surgery/interventional neuroradiology.