ASE’s newest product titled Transesophageal Echocardiography to Assist with Surgical Decision-Making in the Operating Room is available to purchase now in the ASE Learning Hub. This 32-page spiral bound reference guide highlights the assessments needed during 14 surgeries where transesophageal echocardiography is used. Members can purchase this product for $45 USD ($65 for nonmembers). 

Some of the topics featured in this product include:

• Mitral, Aortic, Tricuspid, and Pulmonic Valve Surgery
• Coronary Bypass Surgery
• Aortic Surgery
• LVAD Implantation
• Heart and Lung Transplantation
• and more!

Take advantage of ASE’s calculator and algorithm app EchoGuide! The app provides access to over 50 easy-to-use calculators, algorithms, and charts based on key ASE guidelines for use by healthcare professionals providing cardiac care. It has been downloaded more than 38,000 times since its release in November 2022! If you haven’t already, download the free EchoGuide today—available in the Apple and Google Play stores and on the web!

Enjoying EchoGuide? Let us know by writing a review in the Apple or Android App stores. Potential users will benefit from reading about your favorite app features and how this tool helps you in your day-to-day practice.

The latest issue of CASE, ASE’s open access case reports journal, is now available with some fascinating reports, including “Ascending Aortic Aneurysm in an Asymptomatic Young Woman Without Risk Factors” by Amrin Kharawala, MD et al. CASE Editor-in-Chief, Vincent L. Sorrell, MD, FASE, noted, “In an important reminder to all of us who perform noninvasive imaging, the unpredictable nature of aortic disease should never stray too far from our clinical acumen. These authors report on an incidentally discovered 65mm ascending aorta in a young woman without a connective tissue disorder, aortic syndrome, or associated family history. They include excellent high-quality images from 2D echo, color flow Doppler and CT. Although surgical repair was impacted by a series of post-operative complications and a prolonged hospital course, this CASE presentation should serve as a critically relevant proclamation that we have much to learn about aortic disease. Echocardiography remains the best option we have for early detection and serial assessment, and it is incumbent upon us to obtain high quality images and report carefully measured maximal dimensions at every occasion.”

This issue contains two other Just Another Day in the Echo Lab cases, including severe aortic regurgitation caused by AV fenestrations and AV avulsion and embolization as a complication during TAVI. Learn more from reading their details on innovative management. Additionally, there are two reports in the Congenital Heart Disease category and three in the Cardiac Tumors and Pseudotumors category, featuring a study of a young man with Factor V Leiden experiencing a massive LV thrombus after a STEMI. In Dr. Sorrell’s editorial, he furthers his discussion on Doppler, drawing comparisons between the advancements of detection capabilities by U.S. military radar and those in the echo world through tissue Doppler methodologies (TDE).

The editorial also notes key inclusions for a successful CASE report, especially those on patients with a cardiac mass, as the Journal must select from several submissions each month in the Cardiac Tumors and Pseudotumors category. If you are looking for a journal to submit your case report to, CASE is the place. Email us with questions or submit your report today!

Be sure to check out the latest Sonographer Sound-Off and Unlock the CASE features on the CASE Homepage to dive deeper into new CASE content.

Sonographer Sound-Off (SSO) is an interactive feature that provides an opportunity for sonographers to share tips and tricks they have learned in their everyday practice. SSOs are posted on the CASE Homepage.

The latest SSO titled, Ultrasound Enhancing Agents and Utility of 3D in Aortopathies, features a case study complete with videos, images, and texts from Megan Yamat, RDCS, RCS, ACS, FASE, University of Chicago. The case illustrates how careful TTE imaging, together with thoughtful use of advanced techniques, specifically 3D, photo-realistic rendering, and UEA, can impact decision-making and ultimately patient outcome.

Do you have an image or video that illustrates something you learned from the acquisition or review of that study? If so, please click here to read the submission guidelines. If your image is chosen, you will receive an ASE guideline poster of your choice and be recognized on the CASE homepage, social media, and in the ASE member eNewsletter.

ASE has two live webinars planned this month that are free for ASE members. Log in to your ASE Member Portal and register by clicking the links below:

• April 18, 5-6 PM ET: Recommendations for Cardiac Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) in Children. This webinar, hosted by Jimmy Lu, MD, FASE; Alan Riley, MD, FASE; and Charisse Kwan, MD, will focus on the new ASE guideline entitled Recommendations for Cardiac Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) in Children. Earn 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ (pending approval).

• April 27, 5-6 PM ET: Comparative Echocardiography: Human and Nonhuman Primates. In this presentation, speakers Valérie Chetboul, MV, PhD, DECVIM; Ilana Kutinsky, DO, FACC; and Jonathan Lindner, MD, FACC, FASE; and moderator Philippe Pibarot, DVM, PhD, FASE, will discuss the several similarities and differences of echocardiographic methods applied to human and nonhuman primates. Earn 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

Join us in National Harbor, Maryland, June 23-26, 2023

ASE’s 34th Annual Scientific Sessions is just over two months away, and now is the time to register and reserve your hotel room! Both in-person and virtual attendees will benefit from a comprehensive program focused on cardiovascular ultrasound as a foundational diagnostic tool, while also examining the future of the field.

Important Information and Quick Links

• Click here to complete in-person or virtual registration. ASE members receive reduced registration fees as a benefit of membership (remember to log in to your ASE Member Portal to receive member pricing).
• Additional early registration discounts expire on May 23, 2023.
• Download the Schedule at a Glance. In addition to session pathways and topic-based presentations, this year there are special sessions for the in-person attendees to meet with faculty in small intimate settings for more individualized learning.
• Reserve your discounted hotel room at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center and view overflow hotel options by visiting ASEScientificSessions.org/Housing. The room block will be held until June 2, 2023, or until the block is sold out.
• Participate in ASE’s new Sonographer Career Day on Saturday, June 24. Sonographer students who are currently enrolled in a sonography school program are encouraged to attend ASE 2023 on Saturday free of charge. This special day allows students a unique opportunity to network with faculty and learn more about their chosen career.

Apply Today!

ASE and the ASE Foundation are happy to announce a new funding opportunity available to early career scientists in cardiovascular imaging. The Early-Career Development Grant for Echo Scientists (EDGES) provides support and professional development opportunities for early career members in the Society and creates an avenue for the continued evolution of echocardiography through technical advancement and new applications.

The program will award three grants worth up to $25,000 USD to fund projects that address a clinical gap in cardiovascular ultrasound imaging through research led by an early career scientist. There are no specific research themes that will be prioritized, and clinical gaps may include, but are not limited to: new imaging technologies, novel approaches or populations for diagnostic imaging, ultrasound therapy, workflow automation, or patient/practitioner safety. Physicians, PhDs, veterinarians, sonographers, and other healthcare professionals who are within seven years from having completed training are eligible to apply now through July 1, 2023, 5 PM ET. The principal investigator must be an active ASE member.

The April JASE focuses on SHD interventions and includes “Recommendations for Special Competency in Echocardiographic Guidance of Structural Heart Disease Interventions: From the American Society of Echocardiography.” Lead authors Stephen H. Little, MD, FASE, and Vera H. Rigolin, MD, FASE, note that, “Transcatheter therapies have grown at a rapid pace in a very short period of time. This document outlines training standards for cardiology and anesthesiology fellows as well as those that have completed fellowship training and are learning interventional echocardiography via the experience pathway. The document outlines the requirements of the training institution, the duration of training, the core competencies of training, minimal procedural volume for competency in IE, and competencies for specific structural heart disease procedures.”

In her editorial, Patricia A. Pellikka, MD, FASE, JASE Editor-in-Chief, discusses the prevalent trend in medical publications of including more graphical content, stating, “Visual aids can assist with clarification of content, increase attention, save time, and enhance motivation for learning. JASE is interested in increasing pictorial and graphic content to make concepts easier to understand, increase engagement with our audience, and augment interest in the content.”

Additionally, the state-of-the-art review highlights echocardiographic considerations for tricuspid valve TEER. Other clinical investigations explore safety of TEE during structural cardiac interventions, the significance of RV-PA coupling in mitral valve TEER, the impact of MR in bicuspid aortic valve, machine learning detection of AS, and MAC in mitral valve SAM. The brief research communications describe rates of oropharyngeal and esophageal complications during structural heart disease procedures, patients with bicuspid aortic valve and large aortic annular diameter, and insights from a 15-year institutional experience of TEE for cardiac surgery patients with prior esophagectomies. Editorials further delve into MAC in SAM and harm prevention in structural cardiac interventions. The letters to the editor examine the diagnostic role of color-flow and continuous-wave Doppler echocardiography as well as transprosthetic cuff leakage of a novel aortic bioprosthesis.

The President’s Message, “Interventional Echocardiography: The Emergence of a New Imaging Specialty,” from Stephen H. Little, MD, FASE, reflects on aspects of this rapidly expanding subspecialty that has some catching up to do.