What DM Cardiology residents and departments actually read in 2026 — with journals, a year-wise reading plan, and the references you will need for your thesis and exit practical.
Sitting the DrNB instead? The same superspecialty is covered at DrNB Cardiology books.
DM Cardiology and DrNB Cardiology cover the same superspecialty and the same exit-exam scope, so residents on both routes read the same texts. These 16 titles are the reading list the National Board of Examinations publishes for Cardiology, reproduced exactly — spelling and abbreviations included. Use it as your scope anchor, then buy the current edition of the titles you actually need from the next section.
Source: National Board of Examinations curriculum document for Cardiology
The books most residents actually buy. These are the editions in circulation now, with a note on whether each is something you read through, keep as a reference, or open only for the viva.
Three years of superspecialty training goes faster than it sounds, and most of it is spent on the floor. The order below is what works for most DM Cardiology residents.
Build the base: read Braunwald systematically alongside clinical postings, master ECG with Chou's, and become independent at transthoracic echo using Feigenbaum plus ASE quantification guidelines. Register the thesis protocol.
Shift to procedural and subspecialty depth — Grossman & Baim for cath haemodynamics, Issa/Zipes for electrophysiology, Moss & Adams for congenital disease. Read current ESC/ACC guidelines as they are released and start thesis data collection.
Consolidate for the exit exam: second full pass of Braunwald or Hurst, guideline revision, Otto for echo problem-solving, daily long/short case practice and mock vivas. Complete and submit the thesis.
Protocol, methodology and reporting standards examiners expect you to have followed.
Cases, spotters and stations that come up again and again in the exit exam.
DM Cardiology is a three-year superspecialty course taken after MD/DNB in General Medicine or Paediatrics. Under the NMC Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations the exit examination comprises four theory papers of 100 marks each (basic sciences applied to the specialty, the specialty itself, allied and recent advances) plus a clinical/practical and viva voce component, and an accepted thesis is a precondition for appearing. The practical typically includes one long case, several short cases and structured stations for ECG, echocardiography and cath data.
The titles on this page are the ones residents and departments actually use, each with the edition in circulation now. Start with the first one listed and add the references as your reading deepens.
Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine by Libby, Bonow, Mann, Tomaselli, Bhatt, Solomon (eds) is the usual anchor. The single anchor text for DM Cardiology theory papers and the default citation source in Indian departments.
DM Cardiology is a superspecialty course taken after a broad-specialty MD, MS or DNB, so the reading is narrower and deeper. The broad-specialty texts are assumed knowledge by the time you start.
No. Most residents own two or three and use the department or library copy for the rest. That is exactly why printing selected chapters from a PDF works out cheaper than buying volumes you will open twice.
We print from the PDF you send us. Send the file on WhatsApp with your page count and whether you want colour, black and white or mixed, and we print, bind and deliver anywhere in India. We do not supply copyrighted book files.
Black and white is 50 paise a page, colour is Rs 1 a page, and binding is Rs 40 per bound volume. A 400-page mixed set with binding usually works out around Rs 300 plus delivery.
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