Certification Program Case Report Guidelines
Case Report Format
Each case submitted should list the following at the top left:
- Candidate’s name
- Patient’s name
- Category, Case # (eg. Basic abdomen-3, Basic abdomen-3 revision 2)
- Date of original submission
Cases to be submitted:
Normal abdominal and normal echocardiogram (2 cases, one of each) using the IVUSS Standard Abdominal Ultrasound and Echocardiography Imaging Protocol. The format for cases must show how you perform an ultrasound exam, and each candidate may use their own standard image acquisition protocol. The order of your standard image acquisition is not as important as obtaining all the required images. Please note that although the consensus statements allow video clips for a study, video clips are not allowed for case reports at this time.
After the normal cases are accepted, the remaining 13 case reports do not need to be submitted in any specific order. Each case report should be presented as a scientific paper suitable for publication in any veterinary journal. If the case presentation looks more like the patient’s record than a scientific article, it will not be accepted. Each case report will contain:
- A patient history section with any labwork and radiographs.
- All images of your exam with descriptions (to demonstrate your thoroughness). The order of images in the report should demonstrate how you perform an exam. Date of exam, name of patient, and facility must be on all images. If an image of a certain small part (lymph node, adrenal gland, pancreas, vessel, duct, ureter, etc) is not obtained, the region should be scanned carefully with a captured image representing that region and an explanation of the process/search. Video clips cannot be used in your case report.
- A sonographic description section should provide a radiology-based description of the sonographic presentation without differential diagnoses. Normal ranges should be included here for abnormal findings.
- The interpretation section should be your prioritized ultrasound findings as well as a list of plausible differential diagnoses in order of most likely to least likely. This demonstrates your knowledge and thought processes, as well as your ability to communicate your findings.
- The discussion section of the case presentation should be the most extensive portion. It should reflect thorough research and use of references to support the sonographic findings, differentials, and case conclusion. All references should be cited in the text. No more than 50% of the references should be from textbooks, and the remainder should be from published articles. A minimum of 5 references for each case should be provided, but more are encouraged. The relevance of each cited reference should be explained clearly in the case study text. The discussion should justify each procedure performed and if a procedure was not performed that would have been indicated, the candidate should explain why the procedure was omitted.
- You will likely be requested to revise your discussion section to improve your level of knowledge! Questions will be asked of you that you will need to answer to ensure you meet the high knowledge standards of the program.
- This process gets easier after the first few case reports!
Evaluation of a case report is based on these criteria. If that criteria is not followed, the case report will not be accepted. After rejection of 10 cases, the participant will be discontinued from the program with no financial reimbursement. Discontinued participants will need to complete all coursework again prior to re-enrollment.
Case report examples (The image sets presented here are incomplete to save server space. Size your images to get two per page with description to ease the work load on the reviewers!):
Click here for an Echocardiography Casebook Format Example
Submission Guidelines
- The candidate should wait to submit a second case in the same category (abdomen, echo, or advanced abdomen/small parts/MSK) until the first case in that category receives final approval. This allows him or her to incorporate what they have learned into future case reports.
- Cases should be written based largely on published data and minimally based on personal bias or experience.
- Case report revisions are common, especially for the first few cases.
- Case reports are to be submitted in Word format only. Reports must not be larger than 15MB. This can be accomplished by exporting images from your ultrasound machine in jpg or jpeg format. Contact your vendor if you have problems figuring this out! If the reports are still too big, the pictures can be further compressed using the "Compress Pictures" feature in Word. You may also use a website such as Pixlr.com to compress each picture. Video clips may not be used in your case report.
Case Final Submission and Acceptance:
The certification committee will review the case to ensure that it meets the casebook criteria and ready the case for specialist final review. Once revised, the case will be submitted to a board certified cardiologist/radiologist for final acceptance.
Honour system:
No outside consultation or advice is acceptable. Any evidence of outside consultation or advice on case reports or examination material will result in permanent discontinuation from the program.
Case Report Specifics:
The format for cases must show how you perform an ultrasound exam, and each candidate may use their own standard image acquisition protocol. The order of your standard image acquisition is not as important as obtaining all the required images.
Basic Abdomen (4 cases) using the IVUSS Standard Abdominal Ultrasound Imaging Protocol, including iliac lymph nodes.
- Choose cases with pathology in any of the following organs: liver, gallbladder, spleen, kidneys or ureters, or urinary bladder. Variety within the casebook is required (i.e. do not submit 4 different liver cases). Examples include masses, urolithiasis, inflammatory changes, etc.
- Organs with pathology should be represented more thoroughly.
- Choose cases that will have objective proof of your findings: surgical confirmation, histopathology, cytology, or necropsy.
Advanced Abdomen (5 cases) where the primary pathology is in ) using the IVUSS Standard Abdominal Ultrasound Imaging Protocol (including iliac lymph nodes) where appropriate.
- Choose cases with pathology in any of the following organs: adrenal glands, reproductive organs, common bile duct, pancreas, gastrointestinal tract, abdominal vasculature, abdominal lymph nodes, thyroid, parathyroid, salivary gland, non-cardiac thorax, or musculoskeletal.
- Organs with pathology should be represented more thoroughly.
- Choose cases that will have objective proof of your findings: surgical confirmation, histopathology, cytology, or necropsy. For the rare case in which confirmation was not possible, the differentials for the pathology imaged should be minimal such as an invasive adrenal tumor. Exhaustive differentials without definitive cytology or histopathology will be discouraged.
- Demonstration of your knowledge and use of power and color Doppler, complex documentations such as portal hypertension, biopsy needle placement, shunt examinations will be highly regarded.
Echocardiography (4 cases) using the IVUSS Standard Echocardiography Imaging Protocol.
- Include at least one feline and one canine echo.
- Spectral Doppler in canine should include the LVOT/aortic, RVOT/pulmonic, mitral and tricuspid flows, as well as an example of at least one colorflow examination with explanations for each case submitted. If aliasing is present on PW then CW should be employed to quantify the lesion. Optional, yet where appropriate, demonstrate knowledge and use of insufficiencies, pressure gradients, transmitral flow, IVRT, pulmonary venous flow, etc.
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