From the leading experts in 3D echo including Chair Roberto M. Lang, MD, FASE, check out ASE’s latest 3D educational tool, Utility of 3D Echocardiography: Promises and Perspectives. In this DVD, earn 12 CME as it addresses essential topics in a case-based approach with multiple examples. The DVD begins with history of the technology and moves to the basics of image acquisition and display. Subsequent lectures focus on chamber quantification and valvular heart disease. The use of 3D echocardiography to guide transcatheter interventions is also examined in depth. Finally, a vision for the future of 3D echocardiography, including virtual reality, fusion imaging, and holographic display is presented. Learn more by visiting ASEMarketPlace.com.

New content for the 32nd Annual State-of-the-Art Echocardiography, February 16-18, 2019, includes an expanded computer-based session, a sonographer-only session, TMVR, TAVR, LAA occlusion cases, and advance strain imaging. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from a powerhouse team led by Drs. Bijoy Khandheria, William Zoghbi, and Roberto Lang. During the course, over 100 cases will be presented on themes of structural heart disease, myocardial and pericardial disease, coronary artery disease, and interventional echocardiography.

On February 15-16, there is an optional learning lab that is limited to 100 registrants. This allows for easy access to the expert faculty and nearly private instruction. The beautiful Paradise Point Resort in San Diego, California, is the location for this one-of-a-kind course. Learn more here, download the Advance Program, and register today.

It’s officially Fall, and October is just around the corner which means it’s almost Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month (MUAM)!

How do you plan to celebrate?
The ASE Foundation would like to suggest showing the sonographers in your life how important they are to you by making a donation in their honor! Donate any day in October and include the name and email of the person you are honoring. The Foundation will then send a special electronic card to that person thanking them for the role they play in your life and the lives of patients.

Give a gift that supports the ASE Foundation while honoring those who support you. Join the Foundation in celebrating Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month and the sonographers that make echocardiography the most efficient cardiac diagnostic test!

Are you attending Echo Australia, October 10-12 in Sydney? Be sure to stop by ASE’s booth, #6 to receive 20% off membership pricing on ASE’s educational products. We will also include free shipping when you renew your ASE membership at the booth. This is a great opportunity to have staff walk you through your membership benefits and pick up your FREE, updated  ASE Guidelines thumb drive. On Wednesday, October 10, from 10:30 – 11:00 AM, you can also stop by the booth and meet ASE President, Jonathan R. Lindner, MD, FASE. We look forward to seeing you in the land down under!

The American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) recently approved ASE’s new project, Pediatric Appropriate Use Criteria for Transthoracic Echocardiography: Performance Improvement Module, that gives pediatricians and pediatric trainees an opportunity to earn ABP Maintenance of Certification (MOC) credit while simultaneously working to improve pediatric healthcare quality.

This performance improvement module (PIM) directs participants in the collection of data and the selection of an indication for TTE using the tables in the ASE pediatric AUC document. The activity involves the participant and an independent reviewer. This HIPPA compliant PIM produces bar graphs reflecting change in appropriateness of TTE orders over the two (2) cycles following implementation of improvement measures. There is no fee to participate and a laptop or desktop computer is needed to participate in this activity. A PIM can only be completed for credit once per MOC cycle. Both the participant and reviewer can claim credit for the activity. It is approved for credit by the ABP through April 30, 2020.

Click here to access the activity online. Questions? Contact us here.

ASE is pleased to add “A Hardworking Muscle Needs to Relax: Information for the Diastolic Heart Failure Patient” to our online offerings designed to facilitate physician-patient conversations. The ASE PR Committee developed this document as a part of their role in summarizing specific ASE Guidelines in general terms for patients to understand. Sherif Nagueh, MD, FASE, chair of the writing group for the Recommendations for the Evaluation of Left Ventricular Diastolic Function by Echocardiography: An Update from the ASE and the EACVI, and Federico Asch, MD, FASE, former ASE Guidelines & Standards Committee chair, were also key volunteers in creating this latest piece. It outlines the importance of recognizing symptoms, visiting the doctor, and how an echocardiogram can help with diagnosis and guiding a treatment plan. This is the second in a series of patient-focused documents. The first featured information on echo’s role in cardio-oncology. We hope ASE members will find these helpful in making sure patients have the information they need to make the right healthcare choices. If you have other ideas for new ASE resources you would like to share with your patients, email aporter@asecho.org.

On October 20, 2018, the ASE Foundation is partnering with the Heart and Vascular Institute at West Virginia University for its first domestic outreach event since 2014! A team of volunteers led by Partho Sengupta, MBBS, MD, DM, FASE, and Sanjiv Bhavnani, MD, will participate in a one-day cardiovascular screening and diagnostic triage event that will take place across four clinical sites in the greater Morgantown, WV area. At each site, a primary care team will provide patients with a free health exam, including a point-of-care ultrasound exam under the supervision and training of our team members. Patients with cardiac symptoms will be connected to WVU Medicine for further consultation and follow-up care. If you live in an area within driving distance to Morgantown, WV, and would like to help recruit patients for this free event, please visit this website for more information and to pre-register patients.

While the volunteer application process for this event has closed, there will be new volunteer opportunities to announce for next year. Also, if you have a connection with an underserved population and would like to propose an event, please review the proposal application here. Applications will be considered for events to be implemented in 2020 and later. Please email foundation@asecho.org if you have any questions.

Due to Hurricane Florence, ASE Headquarters will be closing tomorrow, Thursday, September 13, at noon and will remain closed all day on Friday, September 14. To all our members in the affected area, stay safe!

ASE Foundation volunteers who participated in Mexico 2018: Project Chagas returned home last week following the completion of the global health initiative. Held in the city of Mérida, Yucatán, the event focused on pre-identified patients diagnosed with Chagas disease, to investigate the prevalence of Chagas cardiomyopathy, and to detect those individuals previously undiagnosed and connect them with local cardiologists that would provide proper cardiac care within the regional public system.

Chagas disease (CD) is caused by a parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, that is transmitted through the “kissing bug.” Over the last 10 years, the Mexican Government implemented significant initiatives to extinguish the bug and developed campaigns to detect the blood infection of this disease that is mostly prevalent in rural areas. This situation created a unique opportunity for the ASE Foundation and its partners to build on the previous government initiatives and screen for Chagas heart disease, which occurs in roughly 30% of those infected.

In addition to the ASE Foundation, partners for this event included General Hospital Agustin O’Horan in Mérida, Philips Mexico Commercial S.A. de C.V., Yucatán Health Services, the Mexican National Center for the Prevention and Control of Diseases (CENAPRECE), and the Mexican National Association of Cardiology (ANCAM).  All collaborating organizations had representatives on-site, working side-by-side for three days. Team leaders were Dr. Federico Asch (ASEF), Dr. Pedro Gutiérrez-Fajardo (ANCAM), and Dra. Hilda Peralta (General Hospital Agustin O’Horan). Read about the project and all the volunteers online at ASEFoundation.org/Mexico-2018. You can learn more about imaging patients with Chagas disease in this ASE Guideline (also available in Spanish and Chinese).

The ASE Foundation’s 2018 global health outreach events are supported by donor contributions to the Annual Appeal. Giving to the Foundation to help foster a project like this one can make a world of difference!

The September issue of JASE includes the article, “Left Atrial Function is Associated with Earlier Need for Cardiac Surgery in Moderate to Severe Mitral Regurgitation: Usefulness in Targeting for Early Surgery,” by Liam Ring, MBBS, Yasir Abu-Omar, MBChB, DPhil, Nikki Kaye, BSc, Bushra S. Rana, MBBS, William Watson, MBBChir, BSc, David P. Dutka, MD, and Vassilios S. Vassiliou, MBBS, PhD, FACC. Lead author Dr. Ring said that, “One of the real challenges in managing patients with moderate to severe MR is selecting those individuals who will benefit from early surgical intervention. The assessment of left atrial function helps identify those patients who are more likely to develop clinical or conventional echocardiographic indications for mitral valve surgery during follow-up, potentially allowing clinicians to target early surgery more effectively. We believe that the evaluation of LA function should be routine when assessing patients with moderate to severe MR.” Also in this issue are is “Determinants of Physician, Sonographer, and Laboratory Productivity: Analysis of the Third Survey from the American Society of Echocardiography Committee on Pediatric Echocardiography Laboratory Productivity.” The remaining articles cover two-dimensional cross-sectional anatomy, valvular regurgitation assessing severity, prognosis, and treatment, three-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography, cardiac hemodynamic assessments, and three-dimensional echocardiography in children.

The blues pages include Dr. Jonathan Lindner’s President’s Message, “Imaging in Clinical Research” Synergy Not Surrogacy,” a Sonographer’s Communication by Elaine Shea and Keith Collins encouraging all sonographers to get more involved in ASE, a Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease column by council chair Dr. Greg Ensing about the most recent Scientific Sessions, and a photo spread of the Nashville Scientific Sessions events and awards.