2025/06 - Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance recommendations toward environmentally sustainable cardiovascular magnetic resonance [Journal Club]-Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance recommendations toward environmentally sustainable cardiovascular magnetic resonance

Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance recommendations toward environmentally sustainable cardiovascular magnetic resonance

Back to course

Video Transcription

Video Summary

This JCMR Journal Club webinar focused on the SCMR recommendations for environmentally sustainable cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). The presenters explained how climate change and planetary health affect cardiovascular disease, imaging demand, and healthcare delivery, creating a feedback loop in which CMR both responds to and contributes to environmental impact.<br /><br />Key sustainability themes included reducing energy use by powering scanners down when idle, using low-power modes, and adopting shorter, efficient 30-minute CMR protocols. The discussion also highlighted reducing waste from gadolinium contrast, including using non-contrast or low-contrast techniques when feasible and minimizing single-use plastics and packaging. Another major topic was access and transportation: remote reporting, community imaging, and scheduling multiple appointments on the same day can reduce patient travel emissions.<br /><br />Additional sections addressed data storage, suggesting shorter archiving times and fewer nonessential images; low-helium and low-field scanners, which may reduce energy use, helium consumption, and material demands; and the promise and environmental tradeoffs of AI, which can improve efficiency but also consumes energy during training. Pediatric CMR was also discussed, especially reducing sedation and anesthetic greenhouse gas emissions.<br /><br />The session ended with a Q&A on rare earth materials, scanner technology, standardized sustainability metrics, efficient protocols, and remote training.

Keywords

cardiovascular magnetic resonance

sustainability

climate change

energy efficiency

gadolinium contrast

remote reporting

low-field scanners

artificial intelligence

pediatric CMR