ARRT Cardiac-Interventional Radiography

CI uses ARRT's postprimary eligibility pathway. That requires, among other things, that you already hold ARRT credentials in an approved supporting discipline. Review the postprimary eligibility pathway application handbook for the complete requirements, including education, ethics, and examination steps, before you apply.

The exam follows ARRT's Examination Content Specifications, which outline the topics tested, and the Task Inventory, which lists the job responsibilities typically required of CI technologists. The role includes fluoroscopic imaging of the heart and surrounding vessels and assisting with procedures such as angioplasty, stenting, thrombolysis, embolization, ablation, and biopsies.

ARRT's public CI page does not state an item count or time limit. Consult the current Examination Content Specifications and the postprimary application handbook for authoritative details. Because exam formats are revised periodically, confirm the current structure directly with ARRT rather than relying on secondhand numbers from study groups or older prep materials.

Those values are not stated on ARRT's CI page, so this guide does not quote them. The application handbook and the application itself are the authoritative sources for fees and scoring. Check them before you budget or schedule, since fees and scoring policies can change between application cycles.

ARRT's CI page does not describe retake rules, so confirm the current policy in the postprimary application handbook or your ARRT account before scheduling. Retake waiting periods, fees, and application steps can change. Do not assume an older policy still applies; verify directly with ARRT before you reapply.

Start with the Examination Content Specifications and Task Inventory to map what is tested and what the job requires, then read the Clinical Experience Requirements and Structured Education Requirements. Build a plan by topic area, answer practice questions to find weak spots, review those concepts, and recheck the specifications to confirm you covered every listed area.

It is a postprimary specialty exam, so it assumes foundational radiography knowledge and adds cardiac interventional content. ARRT describes certification as challenging yet very achievable, requiring time and commitment. Difficulty depends heavily on your clinical exposure to fluoroscopic cardiac procedures, so use the content specifications to identify gaps early and plan extra review.

Yes. ARRT publishes Clinical Experience Requirements that explain the type and quantity of clinical procedures you must complete for this discipline. The exact procedures and counts are in that document, so download it and track your experience against it rather than estimating from job titles or hearsay.

A frequent mistake is memorizing procedure steps before understanding cardiac anatomy, physiology, and why each step is performed. Another is skipping the Task Inventory, which describes the actual job responsibilities. Candidates also underestimate radiation safety and image evaluation. Study each content-specification area deliberately, and use missed practice questions to drive targeted review.