5 Informative Books for the Nuclear Cardiology Boards

Are you ready for the Nuclear Cardiology boards? While you’ve likely spent much of your medical career with your head in a textbook, there are many benefits to studying through this traditional medium. In addition to taking practice test questions, reading will give you a leg up as you study.

There are many resources available to complement your review. We’ve narrowed down the top 5 books to help you pass the Nuclear Cardiology board certification exam.

1. According to those who’ve recently taken the Nuclear Cardiology Board exam, Nuclear Cardiology: Practical Applications by Gary Heller, Robert Hendel, is hands down, the most “readable” resource to help you prepare for your test. This book is not a comprehensive guide to studying your exam. It has a heavy focus on radiation, but its readability makes it a great resource to supplement others for studying. Cost: ~$90.

2. The counterpart to the Practical Application book would be Nuclear Cardiology: Technical Applications by Gary Heller, April Mann, Robert Hendel. This book has been said to be one of the key ways to learn the technical aspects of performing accurate nuclear cardiology and cardiac CT studies. Again, as this book focuses primarily on Practical Application, so won’t be a comprehensive review of all aspects that will be included on the exam. This book runs ~$25 used on Amazon.

3. Known as the “Gold Standard” by many students, Nuclear Cardiac Imaging: Principles and Applications by Ami E. Iskandrian, Ernest V. Garcia, is an enormous book covering most of the topics from the exam. Because of its enormity, this book runs ~$200 on Amazon, but can be used alone to study. 

Pro Tip: Buy one copy of this book, and split up the chapters with you and your classmates. Each of you can then make notes of the chapters you review so you don’t have to spend too much time reading through the book cover to cover.

4. The Atlas of Nuclear Cardiology by Vasken Dilsizian, Jagat Narula, is a great resource to use to study for the Nuclear Cardiology Board Exam. Its highly visual nature allows for a dynamic kind of studying that can be remiss in the aforementioned texts. Cost: ~$140

 5. The last book on our list (although there are many more to choose from) is Nuclear Cardiology Review: A Self-Assessment Tool by Wael A. Jaber MD FACC FAHA, Manuel D. Cerqueira MD FACC FASNC. This book is focused more on board review questions with lengthy explanations. It includes approximately 200 questions to help review for the exam. A few of the featured questions align directly with those found on the exam. Cost: ~$90.

Beyond books, there are countless online resources you can use to study for the Nuclear Cardiology boards. BoardVitals offers a Nuclear Cardiology question bank with 300+ board review questions written and reviewed by physicians who have recently taken the exam. Check out a FREE trial to see if the format works for your study style.

Good Luck!