Welcome to the website of the Canadian Association of Interventional Cardiologists.

Erick Schampaert, MD FRCPC, FSCAI President CAIC-ACCI

The CAIC is a member of the Canadian Cardiology Society. Our members are cardiologists who specialize in hemodynamic interventions. The creation of the CAIC grew out of the realization by interventionist members of the CCS of the need for an organization which would provide services to and advance the discipline, development and implementation of interventional cardiology.

These are particularly exciting times for interventional cardiologists, since technological advances are leading to more and more patients receiving percutanous coronary intervention for Acute Coronary Syndromes and ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI). At the same time, we face many challenges in the practice of our sub-specialty, as social and fiscal issues are raising questions which require urgent attention and discussion, at our level as well as at the level of social policy makers, other healthcare communities and, of course, at the patient level.

The CAIC includes a growing number of physicians who are involved in adult and pediatric/congenital interventional cardiology. The affairs of CAIC are overseen by an Executive Committee and by several operations committees which are responsible for establishing standards and guidelines for cardiac catheterization and angiography, on-line, and conventional training.

The Executive Committee has applied to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to obtain accreditation without examination for the subspecialty of Interventional Cardiology. We believe that this is an essential step toward adequate recognition of our specialty, and that certification will help ensure national standards, encourage greater exchange of training and trainees from other countries and help establish national standards in treatment and care. We also believe that this should help stem the loss of talented young Canadians to other jurisdictions. The Committee on Specialties of the Royal College has reviewed Part I and Part II of the Application for Recognition of a Proposed Subspecialty in Interventional Cardiology, based on prior certification in cardiology. Our application for recognition of a proposed subspecialty in Interventional cardiology has satisfactorily met the preliminary requirements for Part I of the application process. Part II of the application has been rejected, however. The Executive Committee has submitted an appeal. For details please go to the members-only Accreditation section on this site. 

CAIC continues to consult the membership to ensure that the Association's activities are relevant to the members' needs and priorities in education and other significant issues.

While working within the CCS to advance the art and science of cardiovascular care, the CAIC will define and defend the interests of the interventional cardiologists and their patient population.