Master's Degree in Interventional Cardiology

Specific skills

Throughout the master's degree, the student will acquire the competences required to be able to carry out professional activity as an interventional cardiologist in coronary pathology. This learning requires a progressive acquisition of skills and competences, due to its high degree of complexity and its implications on patient prognosis. Accordingly, development throughout the distinct modules is progressive, ranging from the most basic concepts through to the most specific skills required.
The following competences will be acquired throughout the master's degree:
Module 1. The Basics of Cardiac Haemodynamics
- Understand the physiological and anatomical bases of the coronary circulation. Understand and know how to apply the pharmacology associated with cardiac catheterisation. – Understand the physical basis for acquiring the information required for cardiac catheterisation, namely, radiological imaging, angiographic contrast and pressure recording.
Module 2. Diagnostic catheterisation
- Be able to prepare the worktable to assist the operator during procedures, at ward-nurse level - Obtain vascular access for the performance of the examination - Perform diagnostic coronary angiography - Assist the operator during angioplasties.
Module 3. Basic coronary interventionism.
- Understand, explain and discuss individual medical, percutaneous or surgical treatment options for the patient's cardiac disease with the patient and with family members, as well as with other cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. - Plan pre-, intra- and post-procedural pharmacological management, with special emphasis on adjunctive medical treatment, vascular access selection, haemotasia control, prevention of haemorrhagic complications and prevention of allergic reactions or renal failure. - Acquire practical skills from theoretical knowledge to perform coronary angioplasty in non-complex scenarios on patients with stable heart disease, as a first independent operator.
Module 4. Advanced Coronary Interventionism
- Adequately identify the points of complexity of a case in advanced coronary intervention. - Prepare the appropriate percutaneous treatment strategy, including technique and device selection, development of alternative plans in case of failure of the chosen approach, and management of unexpected complications. - Effectively perform revascularisation procedures in non-complex bifurcation lesions; single stent techniques; saphenous grafts with distal protection systems and primary angioplasty.
Module 5. Complex Coronary Interventional Procedures
- Acquire the ability to solve complications that may arise during cardiac catheterisation. - Prepare and execute strategies for approaching complex lesions and coordinate a multidisciplinary support team (anaesthesiology, critical care units, nursing, etc.) - Approach complex lesions as the first operator in bifurcation lesions requiring the use of two-stent techniques; performing rotational atherocomtomy techniques and high intracoronary support in addressing calcified lesions; comprehensive approach to lesions of the left main coronary artery; and applying ventricular assistance systems.
Module 6. Master's Degree Dissertation
- Carry out and write a research paper. Delimit the collection of information through the review of histories; measures on the information generated during a catheterisation; and follow-up visits. Prepare strategies for the statistical analysis of information; structure the distinct contents of an article and write-up the text for publication.

Transferable skills

-Evaluate the different treatment options, with ethical commitment and cost/effectiveness assessment
- Discuss multidisciplinary cases with the team.
- Communicate orally the diagnosis and treatment options with the patient.
- Generate written reports with the description of the findings, the therapy applied and the synthesis thereof.
- Critically analyze the therapy applied and the mistakes made and the establishment of correction guidelines.
- Teamwork.
- Systematically record the data obtained, preparation of a research project, analysis of the results and presentation thereof.

Title obtained

Lifelong Learning Master's Degree in Interventional Cardiology