What is DM Cardiology? Cardiology Basics

What is DM Cardiology? Cardiology Basics

DM Cardiology (Doctor of Medicine – Cardiology) is a three year full-time course conducted at various medical colleges and institutes of national importance in India. Cardiology is the branch of medicine dealing with cardiovascular disorders.

Selection to the various medical colleges is by the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test – Super Specialty (NEET-SS), while that to institutes of national importance is by Institute of National Importance Combined Entrance Test (INI CET).
NEET-SS is conducted by the National Board Of Examinations In Medical Sciences, New Delhi. INI CET is conducted by All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. The institutes of national importance are AIIMS, New Delhi, PGIMER, Chandigarh, JIPMER, Puducherry, NIMHANS, Bengaluru and Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram.

Eligibility for the entrance examinations for DM Cardiology is an MD (Doctor of Medicine) degree in General Medicine, Pediatrics or Respiratory Medicine. MD is a three year course taken after MBBS. MBBS is a four and a half year course with additional one year internship training. Admission to MBBS is through National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) and that to MD is through National Eligibility cum Entrance Test – Postgraduate (NEET-PG).

Like all postgraduate medical courses, DM Cardiology involves both theoretical studies and practical experience in the hospital. DM residents provide care to all patients under their care with supervision from faculty. They are exposed to medical research by way of dissertation and publication of research papers. DM residents are trained in the performance of all tests related to cardiology like echocardiography, exercise ECG, cardiac catheterization, angiography and interventional procedures.

Cardiac catheterization involves introduction of catheters, into the heart through blood vessels, guided by fluoroscopy, in a special procedure room known as cardiac catheterization laboratory. Catheters are used to measure pressures, get pressure tracings and measure oxygen saturation in the cardiac chambers.

Angiography is visualization of heart and blood vessels by injecting radiocontrast medications into them using catheters and taking continuous X-ray images. This short video clip shows a coronary angiogram.

Interventions are procedures like angioplasty, device closure of congenital or acquired defects, enlargement of stenotic valves by balloon catheters and transcatheter implantation of artificial valves and special devices.
Electrophysiology study and catheter ablation are specialised procedures for cardiac arrhythmias. Pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillator and cardiac re-synchronization therapy are other procedures done in the electrophysiology laboratory.