Archives for June 2021

The latest issue of CASE, ASE’s open access case reports journal, is available and includes, “Fetal Diagnosis in a Unique Case of Vascular and Cardiac Interdependence in Omphaloischiopagus Conjoined Twins,” by Mansi Gaitonde, MD, Joseph Kreeger, ACS, RCCS, RDCS, William Border, MBChB, Jessica Roberts, MD, Summer Elshenawy, MD, Franklyn Geary, MD, and Erik Michelfelder, MD. Mr. Kreeger said, “This was truly one of the most rare, complex, and fascinating fetal cases that have ever been reported, and multimodality imaging was key in making the proper diagnosis. I am so very thankful to have been a part of the imaging team for these twins.”

Additional cases in this issue explore COVID-19, papillary muscle predicaments, thrombus, residual ramifications, and acquired consequences, including “Acquired Stenosis of All Four Heart Valves in a Boxer Mixer Dog,” by Matthew Boothe, DVM, and Steven Rosenthal, DVM, DACVIM (Cardiology).

Visit the CASE homepage to take advantage of the CME activities involving structural heart disease and cardiac masses and view the new What is this Image? quiz created by our esteemed co-Editor-in-Chief Karen G. Zimmerman, BS, ACS, RDCS, RVT, FASE, and her colleagues, Margret Onyeaghor, RCS, Guillermo Uriate, MD, RN, ACS, RDCS, Kartik Gupta, MD, Bobak Rabbani, MD, and James Lee, MD, FASE, from the Henry Ford Echocardiography Lab, Detroit, Michigan.

ASE is seeking session proposals for our 33rd Annual Scientific Sessions to be held June 10-13, 2022, in Seattle, Washington. Help us provide cutting-edge content for our attendees.

Sessions should:

• Focus on innovation in the field of cardiovascular ultrasound and its applications
• Meet perceived learning gaps/needs for the cardiovascular community
• Achieve gender, institutional, ethnic, and international faculty diversity
• Provide a balance of physicians, sonographers, cardiac care team members, and emerging/early-career faculty (as applicable)
• Promote educational engagement by including a variety of presentation and learning formats

Deadline for all submissions: June 30, 2021

Notification of selected sessions: September 30, 2021

The ASE Echo Image Calendar has become a very popular member renewal gift over the past seven years. Members are encouraged to upload cardiovascular images for the 2022 Image Calendar Contest by Monday, August 9. Please include a brief description of your image. Voting for the favorite images to be included in the colorful, 12-month calendar will close on Tuesday, September 7. All members who renew by December 31, 2021 will receive the 2022 calendar in the mail*.

To upload your images, head to the ASE 2021 Calendar Contest Library on Connect@ASE:

1. Log in to Connect@ASEusing your ASE username (email address) and password.
2. Using the left navigation, scroll to Libraries.
3. Click on Image Library.
4. Click on the folder called ASE 2022 Calendar Contest.
5. Click “Upload Resource” under Folder Contents and upload your image. Image files need to be no larger than 30 MB.
6. Upload as many images as you would like.
7. Please include a title and brief description of your image.

Please note that this competition is open to members only. If you have any questions, please contact Arissa Cooper at ACooper@ASEcho.org.

*Not including members who live in locations that are not served by the USPS.

Three research studies being presented at the ASE 2021 Scientific Sessions Virtual Experience, June 18-21, 2021, highlight the key role of echocardiography, which is ultrasound of the heart, in the diverse field of women’s health. One study used echocardiography to demonstrate a link between high blood pressure in pregnancy and future microvascular disease, or damage to the heart’s smallest blood vessels. Another investigation evaluates the function of the left atrium in women who take trastuzumab, an antibody used in the treatment of breast cancer. A third research study highlights a heart abnormality seen on routine obstetric ultrasounds that is associated with significant heart defects, and the value of referring these expectant moms to a center with specialized expertise in fetal cardiovascular conditions. Read more here.

COVID-19 changed everything in healthcare, and a benefit from this pandemic was a surge in innovations in the medical field. One of these is the growth in Artificial intelligence (AI) guided medical care. Research is now showing that AI provides the opportunity for frontline providers who do not have specialized training in cardiac ultrasound (novice users) to obtain diagnostic quality point of care cardiac ultrasound (POCUS) images. This facilitates real-time, bedside assessment and diagnosis of structural cardiac disease and expands its use on a larger scale than possible in the past. Two research studies being presented at the ASE 2021 Scientific Sessions Virtual Experience, June 18-21, 2021, highlight the use of AI by novice users including nurses and frontline practitioners. Read more here.

A new original science category being featured at the ASE 2021 Scientific Sessions Virtual Experience, June 18-21, 2021, focuses on the utilization of echocardiography (cardiac ultrasound) and the indication for echocardiography in COVID-19. Three research studies being presented show the broad scope echocardiography plays in diagnosis and ongoing evaluation and treatment of this novel virus. Read more here.

Echocardiography (heart ultrasound) with ultrasound enhancing agents (UEAs) has proven to be a valuable imaging procedure after surgery for children born with single ventricle congenital heart disease (CHD). This heart defect occurs when one of the two pumping chambers in the heart, called ventricles, is not large enough or strong enough to work correctly. Research being presented at the ASE 2021 Scientific Sessions Virtual Experience, June 18-21, 2021, highlights how echocardiography with UEAs (agents that do not involve radiation) in CHD patients postoperatively can improve diagnostic capabilities and decrease the need for additional testing. Read more here.

The virtual exhibit hall at ASE 2021 Scientific Sessions Virtual Experience will feature over 30 companies and organizations highlighting the latest vendor technology and other services. Demonstrations of artificial intelligence software and intracardiac echocardiography technologies, how to incorporate strain and ultrasound enhancing agents (UEAs) into lab procedures, and more will all be available to explore, June 18-21, 2021, during the world’s premier meeting for cardiovascular ultrasound practitioners. Read highlights from the virtual exhibit hall here.

In keeping with tradition, the June JASE (online) spotlights the ASE 32nd Annual Scientific Sessions Scientific Research Abstracts. A clinical investigation, “Association between Transesophageal Echocardiography and Clinical Outcomes after Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery,” by Emily J. MacKay, DO, MS et al, is complemented by an editorial comment, “Assessing the Value of Echocardiography in the Absence of Randomized Trials: How Analytic Techniques from Causal Inference Can Fill the Gap,” by Jason H. Wasfy, MD, MPhil, and Falco J. Bargagli-Stoffi, MSc, PhD. Dr. MacKay, a cardiac anesthesiologist and echocardiographer, said that the goal was to approximate the design of a cluster-randomized trial within the framework of an observational study. “Across all analyses, which controlled for both observed differences (by matching) and unobserved differences (by instrumental variable analysis), TEE was associated with improved clinical outcomes after CABG surgery. As data becomes more readily available to researchers, the appropriate and rigorous application of causal inference statistical techniques to observational datasets is a very real opportunity to fill evidence gaps to help clinicians make informed treatment decisions and improve outcomes.”

Other clinical investigations in this issue examine atrial fibrillation and functional tricuspid regurgitation, echocardiography and percutaneous mitral valve interventions, carotid artery ultrasound, echocardiography in COVID-19, and pediatric echocardiography. An article on echocardiographic imaging strategies for the BASILICA procedure, a brief research communication on the midsystolic notching on RVOT flow velocity with an accompanying editorial comment, and several letters to the editor round out the issue.

ASE President Judy Hung, MD, FASE, writes about her ASE term, Keith Collins, MS, RDCS, FASE, the sonographer co-chair of the ASE 2021 Scientific Sessions, gives a glimpse of its revolutionary programming, Gregory Tatum, MD, FASE, writes poignantly of the collaborative efforts of the Council on Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease and the ASE Foundation, and the education calendar outlines a multitude of learning options near and far.

On May 27, 2021, ASE approved the following policy statement on the adult cardiac sonographer performing screening echocardiograms in the newborn:

ASE is committed to supporting sonographers provide the best care for patients of all ages, newborns through adults. The ASE recognizes that sonographers without specialized pediatric training will be asked to perform transthoracic echocardiograms in newborn infants at institutions without onsite pediatric sonographers and pediatric cardiologists. The primary indication for these neonatal echocardiograms will be to assess for the presence of critical congenital heart disease that may require emergency medical intervention and transfer to a tertiary pediatric cardiac center for further infant care. Realizing the stress and challenges this scenario imposes upon sonographers, the ASE advocates for the universal adoption of the following:

1. Availability of additional sonographer training (online or in-person) for sonographers tasked with performing these scans;
2. Development of immediately accessible online educational tools;
3. Availability of appropriate ultrasound equipment for imaging newborn infants at all institutions performing Obstetrical deliveries and neonatal pulse oximetry screening;
4. Information Technology resources to support high bandwidth telemedicine transfer of imaging data; and
5. Establishment of formal telemedicine agreements or consultative privileges between hospitals without on-site pediatric cardiology presence and designated pediatric cardiologists available for prompt consultation.

To review ASE’s policy statements, click here.