As we ring in the new year, the January 2018 issue of JASE debuts with Michael H. Picard, MD, FASE, as Editor-in-Chief, his first editorial, “JASE 3.0: Entering our 4th Decade,” and a new cover design! The issue also features Recommendations for Multimodality Cardiac Imaging in Patients with Chagas Disease: A Report from the American Society of Echocardiography in Collaboration With the InterAmerican Association of Echocardiography (ECOSIAC) and the Cardiovascular Imaging Department of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology (DIC-SBC). The writing group for this important paper was led by Harry Acquatella, MD, FACC, FAHA, FASE, MACP, of Centro Medico de Caracas in Caracas, Venezuela (Chair), one of the world’s foremost experts on Chagas heart disease and Federico Asch, MD, FASE, of MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, DC (Co-chair). Dr. Asch commented, “While historically it has been rare in the U.S., migration has changed the epidemiology of Chagas Heart Disease. However, there is still a lack of awareness in our medical community on how Chagas disease should be screened for and diagnosed, and how imaging could impact the outcome of these patients. This document brings together experts from Latin America, led by Dr. Acquatella, with U.S.-based clinicians to raise awareness of this not-so-rare-anymore cardiac disease and provide guidance on how different cardiac imaging modalities can impact the outcome of patients at risk or infected.” Other articles in this issue cover valve disease, left ventricular strain and clinical outcomes, Doppler ultrasound assessment of cardiac hemodynamics, and echocardiography in children.
January 5, 2018 By