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.