Echo on the Inside Passage of Alaska, July 21-28, 2018, offers an opportunity to take a dream vacation and earn CME at the same time. Course chair, Steven Lester, MD, FASE, has designed this inaugural course to offer participants nearly one-on-one education from first-class expert faculty, including Drs. Thomas Binder, Rekha Mankad, Sunil Mankad, Vera Rigolin, and William Zoghbi. The lectures will take place while the ship is at sea, so you won’t miss any of the amazing opportunities that sailing on the Inside Passage of Alaska offers. Download the Advance Program to see everything this unique course provides and register today! Receive a 25% discount on registration if you register two or more people. Email registrar@ASEcho.org for information.

Who makes ASE strong? You. 

• You make ASE the largest voice in cardiovascular imaging in the world, now more than 17,000 strong.
• You know the value of membership and can share it with your colleagues.
• You can encourage them to join ASE to maintain the influence of the echo community.

Recruit one new member and you BOTH receive an ASE-branded PopSocket. Recruit five or more new members and your 2019 ASE membership will be FREE. Download a member recruiting toolkit and learn more by visiting ASEcho.org/MemberReferralProgram.

The ASE Foundation is honored to recognize Jan D’hooge, MSc, PhD, from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Leuven, Belgium as the 2018 Kalmanson Lecturer at this year’s Scientific Sessions in Nashville, TN. Established in memory of Professor Daniel Kalmanson, a pioneer in the use of Doppler echocardiography, and funded through a grant from the International Cardiac Doppler Society (ICDS), this annual lectureship provides a forum for honoring worthy investigators while promoting research and education in cardiovascular Doppler ultrasound. Dr. D’hooge will present his lecture entitled “Technological Advances Driving a New Era for Tissue Doppler Imaging” during the Novel Concepts in Strain Joint ASE/EACVI symposium. Plan to attend this session on Sunday, June 24th from 1:15 – 2:45 PM in Presidential Ballroom D.

The May JASE, now online, includes nine clinical investigations on the topics of valvular heart disease, myocardial mechanics assessed during stress echocardiography, the athlete’s heart, three-dimensional echocardiography, and complex congenital heart disease along with a state-of-the-art review, “Stressing the Cardiopulmonary Vascular System: The Role of Echocardiography,” from Lawrence G. Rudski, MD, FASE, et al. “The clinical importance of right heart function is increasingly recognized,” Rudski said. “Just like the left heart, the right heart can be evaluated both at rest and under stress conditions. This state-of-the-art article reviews the methods and utility of different stress modalities in a variety of clinical conditions to evaluate the right ventricle and its coupling to its ‘afterload,’ the pulmonary vascular system.” Two “Letters to the Editor” look at the issue of whether it is time to revise the guidelines and recommendations for digital echocardiography. The blue pages explore what’s in store for cardiovascular ultrasound in the future and what’s on the schedule specifically for vascular ultrasound users at this year’s Scientific Sessions in Nashville. Also included is a moving tribute to sonographer Brian Haluska, PHD, MSC (HONS), MSC, RDCS, AMS, FASE, who recently passed away but who left an incredible and inspiring legacy.

Have you been dreaming about what your summer vacation could be this year? Well, we have the answer! Echo on the Inside Passage of Alaska, July 21-28, 2018, offers an opportunity to take a dream vacation and earn CME at the same time. Course chair, Steven Lester, MD, FASE, has designed this inaugural course to offer participants nearly one-on-one education from first-class expert faculty, including Drs. Zoghbi, Rigolin, Mankad, and Binder. The lectures will take place while the ship is at sea, so you won’t miss any of the amazing opportunities that sailing on the Inside Passage of Alaska offers. Download the Advance Program to see everything this unique course provides and register today! Interested in registering two or more people? Email registrar@asecho.org for information on saving 25% off registration.

We know many ASE members are doing groundbreaking research in cardiovascular ultrasound, but often times we don’t hear about it. We would love to help promote your research! Once your institution prepares a press release on your research, email it to communications@asecho.org and ASE’s Executive Committee will review it, and possibly share it, via ASE’s media channels.

Help us promote all the great research going on in CV Ultrasound!

The April JASE podcast features a lively discussion between JASE Editor-in-Chief Dr. Michael H. Picard, and Drs. Rebecca T. Hahn and Muhamed Saric, two of the country’s top experts on the subject of echo guidance of structural heart disease interventions. They examine the following topics:

• Training, special skills, and competence
• Guidance of TAVR
• Paravalvular leaks
• LA appendage closures, shapes, and devices
• Mitral valve clips and residual leaks
• PFO closures
• Difficult procedures
• Radiation exposure

Help fulfill your CME requirements with Dr. Saric’s article in this issue, “Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion/Exclusion: Procedural Image Guidance with Transesophageal Echocardiography.” (Accompanying figure is Figure 1 from his paper.)

Five state-of-the-art reviews about echocardiography in structural heart disease (SHD) interventions are in the April JASE. Complementing these articles is a presentation of the ACC/ASE 2017 Appropriate Use Criteria for Multimodality Imaging in Valvular Heart Disease. James N. Kirkpatrick, co-author of “Role of Echocardiography in Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement in Native Mitral Valves and Mitral Rings,” said, “Structural heart interventions have revolutionized the treatment of cardiovascular disease in recent years, and imaging plays a central role in patient selection and procedural guidance.  For many patients who once faced the daunting prospect of open-chest surgical procedures, there are now percutaneous options.  Reductions in morbidity and recovery time improve important patient-centered outcomes, in addition to reducing the risk for patients with serious co-morbidities.”  For his monthly podcast, JASE Editor-in-Chief Michael H. Picard, MD, FASE, interviewed Drs. Rebecca T. Hahn and Muhamed Saric about the role of echocardiography in SHD interventions. Two clinical investigations on aortic annular and software round out the issue. In the JASE blue pages, learn about all the fantastic opportunities that lie in store for attendees going to the Annual Scientific Sessions in Nashville, Tennessee.