Archives for February 2020

Technical Issues with the ASE Member Portal

We are aware of and apologize for the technical difficulties you may be experiencing with the ASE Member Portal. We hope to resolve this situation soon. Thank you for your patience.

Spectacular Attention to Detail! The February CASE Now Online

The latest issue of CASE, ASE’s online case reports journal, is now available and contains, “Misdiagnosis or Missed Diagnosis: Digging Out the “Near-Field Clutter” Artifact in a Patient with Stroke,” from Laurens De Vos, MD, Veerle De Herdt, MD, PhD, and Frank Timmermans, MD, PhD.” CASE co-Editor-in-Chief, Karen Zimmerman, BS, ACS, RDCS, RVT, FASE, writes in her editorial that this case stresses the importance of attention to detail and physics. “In this case, an apical LV thrombus was believed to be the cause of an embolic stroke due to a few questionable surface echo images. The patient was subject to multiple imaging examinations to finally reveal Near-Field Clutter (NFC). They also provide an excellent lesson and strategy for differentiation of NFC.”

The other illuminating cases in this issue look at imaging for percutaneous procedures crossing the atrial septum, masses/thrombosis, and sinus of Valsalva ruptures.

As CASE begins its 4th year of publishing cases that help its readers enhance their knowledge and provide outstanding healthcare for their patients, Karen G. Zimmerman, BS, ACS, RDCS, RVT, FASE, and L. Leonardo Rodriguez, MD, FACC, FASE, would like to thank everyone who is involved in creating such an impactful publication every two months. Without the generosity of reviewers, who take their personal time to review cases and work hard to help authors fine-tune their submissions, CASE would not be possible. The Editors-in-Chief would also like to thank CASE’s publisher, Elsevier, for its excellence in supporting the submission, proofing, and publication process. CASE always wants to hear from readers and potential authors with opinions and questions. Don’t hesitate to email managing editor, Deborah Meyer at DMeyer@ASEcho.org.

Next Twitter Journal Club – March 3

Interact with your colleagues in our next Twitter Journal Club on Tuesday, March 3, from 8:00 – 9:00 PM US EST. March’s Twitter Journal Club will review the latest ASE Guidelines,  Guidelines for Performance, Interpretation, and Application of Stress Echocardiography in Ischemic Heart Disease. Guideline Chair, Patricia Pellikka, MD, FASE, ASE Past President, will join moderator, Ritu Thamman, MD, FASE, during this month’s Journal club.

NEW! As an ASE member, you can now receive FREE CME for participating. Register here BEFORE the Twitter Journal Club to guarantee your free CME.

Follow @ASE360, and please plan to join ASE’s journal club. Be sure to use the hashtag #ASEchoJC for all tweets. Click here to find out when the Twitter Journal Club is taking place in your timezone. If you have any questions on this event, please contact us here.

Join Us for a Live Webinar on Imaging in Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Please plan to join Jeremy James Thaden, MD, and Ethan Rowin, MD, for a LIVE webinar on Wednesday, March 18, 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET as they review Imaging in Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Utilizing Pre- and Peri-Procedure Echocardiography to Optimize Patient CareClick here to find out when the webinar is taking place in your time zone.

By the end of this educational webinar, viewers will be able to:

  • Recognize the dynamic nature of left ventricular outflow obstruction and the various provocative maneuvers that should be utilized in symptomatic patients without significant resting outflow gradient.
  • Understand the role of imaging and echocardiography in deciding appropriate invasive septal reduction therapy option for an individual patient.
  • Understand the role of imaging and echocardiography in helping guide surgical myectomy and alcohol septal ablation.
  • Identify the characteristic features of mitral regurgitation secondary to systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve and left ventricular outflow obstruction versus primary mitral valve disease and its implications in deciding appropriate treatment strategies.

Earn 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for attending this live webinar event.  Registration is free for ASE members.

Registration is Now Open for the 21st Annual Review Course in Boston May 9-12, 2020

Is 2020 the year you need to take the NBE ASCeXAM® or ReASCE® exams? ASE has specifically designed the ASCeXAM/ReASCE Review Course to help you gain the knowledge you need to pass these tests. Learn one-on-one with expert faculty. Practice board questions are given at the end of each session to help attendees to be even better prepared for the exam. Please plan to join us at the Sheraton Boston Hotel, May 9-12, 2020 for this intensive review course. The course registration also includes free access to online lecture recordings.

Download the Advance Programregister, and learn more at ASEcho.org/ReviewCourse.

ASE on the Road

Are you attending the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s Critical Care Congress, the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists’ Echo Week, or ASE’s State-of-the-Art Echocardiography Course in the upcoming weeks?  Be sure to stop by ASE’s booth to receive 20% off member pricing on ASE’s educational products.This is a great opportunity to have ASE staff walk you through your membership benefits, learn about the latest ASE educational products, and more.

Take Part in ASE’s New Virtual Learning Opportunity

On March 6-8, 2020, ASE will present the inaugural Echo Access, A Virtual Experience featuring content from ASE’s State-of-the-Art Echocardiography live course. Don’t miss this new innovative way to learn from leading experts without having to leave your house.

A maximum of 12 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ will be available for attending this three-day virtual event. Streaming content will be approximately four hours each day from 3:00 – 7:00 PM Eastern Time. Some faculty will be available during these presentations to answer questions live. Registration also includes access to this content for 30 days. Participants can choose one of two virtual experience paths. For more information and to register, click here.

Call for Photos – Give Us Your Best Shot!

Sunlight Beaming on Marble Mountains captured by Tiffany Chen, MD,FASE

The ASE Foundation is accepting photo entries through March 31 for the 5th Annual “Images from the Heart” photo exhibit. The curated photo exhibit, that will be on display during ASE 2020 in Denver, 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 is open to entries from all members of ASE, regardless of whether the medical humanitarian event was sponsored by ASEF or another non-profit/NGO organization.

As an added benefit, photographers whose artwork is purchased at the conference receive donations in their name to ASEF.

Visit ASEFoundation.org/images-from-the-heart for entry details.

There is Still Time to Register for SOTA – Final Program Available

You will not want to miss the 33rd Annual State-of-the-Art Echocardiography, February 21-24, 2020 in Scottsdale, AZ. This spectacular course follows the themes of structural heart disease, myocardial and pericardial disease, coronary artery disease, and interventional echocardiography. Over 100 cases will be presented by the expert faculty including Drs. Bijoy Khandheria, Roberto Lang, and William Zoghbi.

Scottsdale, Arizona, with blue skies and first-class education, awaits you. Learn more here, download the Final Program, and register today.

JASE Gets to the Heart of Things!

The February JASE contains a pre-clinical investigation, “Left Ventricular Longitudinal Strain as a Marker for Point of No Return in Hypertensive Heart Failure Treatment,” written by Tomoko Ishizu, MD, PhD, Yoshihiro Seo, MD, PhD, Mikiko Namekawa, MSc, Nobuyuki Murakoshi, MD, PhD, Masaki Ieda, MD, PhD, and Yasushi Kawakami, MD, PhD. Dr. Seo shares with JASE readers that, “We investigated when is the “point of no return” (PNR) or point when response to ACE-inhibitor therapy is less effective in the hypertensive heart failure model in the rat. We revealed that the combination of longitudinal and circumferential strain could identify the PNR and the period just before the PNR.” Another pre-clinical article explores how therapeutic ultrasound improves myocardial blood flow and reduces infarct size in a canine model of coronary microthromboembolism.

Clinical investigations in the issue feature echocardiography in heart failure, implications of diastolic function assessed by echocardiography, intraoperative echocardiography, improving the measurement of the tricuspid valve annulus, detection of patent foramen ovale, and echocardiography in children. Brief research communications and a letter to the editor cover cardiac remodeling in middle-aged endurance athletes and recreationally active individuals, variability in echo ascending aortic diameters due to image acquisition by different sonographers, 2D speckle-tracking echo of the left ventricle rotational mechanics during postnatal adaptation in healthy newborns, and system-wide echo accreditation from the physician perspective.

The President’s Message by Madhav Swaminathan, MD, MMCi, FASE, explores ASE’s essential collaboration between its human and veterinary medical professionals. Marjan Miri, BS, RDCS, writes in the Sonographers’ Communication about ASE’s Rising Stars, and Kimberly Howard-Quijano, MD, MS, author of this month’s COPE communication, looks at the perioperative use of strain echocardiography.