Cardiology is medicine's arsenal against America's No. 1 cause of death: cardiovascular disease. Patients who have heart and blood vessel diseases turn to a cardiologist for treatment. When the diagnosis indicates the need for an operation, the cardiologist refers them to a cardiac, or cardiothoracic, surgeon. These two heart professionals launch their medical careers by earning a doctor of medicine degree and license. Cardiologist Training Cardiologists finish three-year internal medicine residencies after getting their medical licenses. They then become board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine before pursuing fellowships in cardiology than can last three to six years. Their training culminates with board certification in cardiovascular disease by the American College of Cardiology, unless they complete additional fellowships to be able to perform angioplasties, catheterizations and pacemaker procedures. Cardiac Surgeon Training The training needed to become a cardiac, or cardiothoracic, surgeon can last eight years or longer following medical school. Future cardiac surgeons spend five years in a general surgery residency program followed by board certification in general surgery. They then devote another three years in clinical cardiothoracic training where they learn surgical procedures to address heart, lung, blood vessel, artery and esophagus disorders. Cardiac surgeons need to obtain certification in cardiothoracic surgery. Those wishing to specialize in adult or pediatric cardiovascular surgery pursue additional fellowships. Responsibilities These specialists partner to give patients state-of-the-art heart care. Cardiologists use biopsies, stress tests, monitors and echocardiograms to diagnose heart and coronary artery conditions, abnormal heart rhythms and congenital heart defects they treat with medications, diet control and procedures that unblock arteries or regulate heartbeats. Cardiac surgeons operate on patients referred to them by cardiologists, performing complex bypasses and heart transplants and repairing heart valves, defects and aneurysms. They must stay current with technological advances in surgical instrumentation and procedures to remain at the top of their field. Compensation As you might expect given the life-and-death nature of the job, both cardiologists and cardiac surgeons are among the highest paid physicians. The median annual cardiothoracic surgeon salary is $353,627 in 2018, which is significantly higher than the $208,000 median for all surgeons. Cardiologists currently earn a median salary of $242,957 per year. The top tier of cardiac specialists can expect to earn more than $458,978 annually. Source
