Archives for February 2019

Many new educational resources are being developed by ASE experts to help you enhance your practice. There is something for every level of training. Make sure you to log into your member portal to receive your discount. Here are two of the latest updated Best of ASE Volumes:

• 2nd Edition: Best of ASE, Volume 5: Contrast Echocardiography
  This compilation is a comprehensive review of ultrasound enhancing agents (UEA) in echocardiography, from the basics to the cutting edge. The second edition covers everything that the general cardiologist, echocardiographer, or sonographer needs to know about UEAs in echocardiography.
• 2nd Edition: Best of ASE, Volume 6: Echocardiographic Imaging of Native and Prosthetic Valves
  This valve lecture series includes a comprehensive overview of the latest in diagnostic evaluation and quantification of regurgitant and stenotic lesions as well as detailed discussions on the role of echocardiography in today’s surgical and catheter-based interventions.

Visit ASEMarketPlace.com to see all of ASE’s educational resources. If you are having trouble accessing your member portal, please contact ASE@ASEcho.org.

The ASE Foundation is accepting photo entries through March 31 for the 4th Annual “Images from the Heart” photo exhibit. The curated photo exhibit that will be on display during ASE 2019 in Portland will feature photographs taken while ASE members were participating in humanitarian or training events that were medical in nature. The photographs themselves need not be medically themed, but may capture faces of people met along the way, landscapes, cultural observations, etc. The ASEF photo exhibit will be open to entries by all members of ASE, regardless of whether the medical humanitarian event was sponsored by ASEF or another non-profit/NGO organization. Visit ASEFoundation.org/ImagesFromTheHeart for entry details.

Photo: “Enjoy my Cuban Ride” taken by Federico M. Asch, MD, FASE

Did you know Council membership is open to all ASE members with an interest in the field, regardless of their area of practice? Each of these Councils has a Steering Committee leadership group, that provides input and guidance to the organization for this area of practice. These volunteer positions include a ladder position to a seat on ASE’s Board of Directors for the Chair of the Council. All four ASE Council Steering Committees (Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease, Perioperative Echocardiography, Vascular Ultrasound, and Cardiovascular Sonography) are now accepting applications/nominations for open positions through March 8, 2019. Please contact Natalya Read at nread@asecho.org for additional information.

The February JASE contains, “Guidelines for Performing a Comprehensive Transesophageal Echocardiographic Examination in Children and All Patients with Congenital Heart Disease: Recommendations from the American Society of Echocardiography.” The prior guideline for TEE was published in 2005 and focused on when to do it, how to do it, and who should do it. Writing group chair, Michael D. Puchalski, MD, FASE, said, “This new paper really expands on that in a significant way by providing a comprehensive protocol for image acquisition. We recommend numerous views to evaluate a wide variety of congenital heart conditions and have added 3D echo, which did not exist in 2005. The technologic advancements in the last decade or more have expanded the use of TEE to guide interventions in the catheterization lab and improve operative outcomes from the smallest babies to the oldest adult.”

Other JASE articles include a state-of-the-art review on pathophysiology and echocardiographic diagnosis of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and clinical investigations on three-dimensional echocardiography of the tricuspid valve, left atrial function and heart failure risk, cardio-oncology, echocardiographic markers of high risk Chagas cardiomyopathy, and fetal echocardiography along with a preclinical investigation on three-dimensional echocardiographic holography. James N. Kirkpatrick, MD, FASE, and Alan S. Pearlman, MD, FASE, penned the article, “Ethical Challenges in the Practice of Echocardiography: What is Right and How Do We Do It?” based on the 2018 Richard Kerber Lecture on Ethics and Humanitarianism. The Blue Pages include the President’s Message by Jonathan R. Lindner, MD, FASE, “Technology is Sometimes a Double-edged Sword,” and the COPE column, “Perioperative Echocardiography in a Multi-Disciplinary Care Team,” by Himani Bhatt, MD, MPA, FASE, and Sheela Pai Cole, MD, FASE.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common form of birth defect worldwide. In the United States alone, over 40,000 children are born annually with CHD and the number of children and adults living with CHD is estimated at two to three million. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) has always been an essential non-invasive diagnostic tool for pediatric cardiologists, but recent advances in transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) technology have led to its increasing importance in the care of both children and adults with CHD. A new document, Guidelines for Performing a Comprehensive Transesophageal Echocardiographic Examination in Children and All Patients with Congenital Heart Disease: Recommendations from the American Society of Echocardiography, provides a comprehensive review of the optimal application of TEE for patients with CHD. Read more here.