It’s the Most Wonderful Time for December CASE

The latest issue of CASE is now available with intriguing reports, including “Three-Dimensional Echocardiography in Congenital Heart Disease: Comparison with Pathologic Specimens—A Case Series” by Stanley et al. CASE Editor-in-Chief Vincent Sorrell, MD, FASE, remarked, “Be sure to check out the elegant report from Stanley et al. who provide readers with their CASE series of 3D echocardiography findings directly compared to surgical findings to advance our validation of this technology. As the field of congenital cardiology continues to adopt expanding 3DE technology, this type of investigation and rigorous scholarly work is necessary. As your Journal Editor, I am excited to share this approach to publishing validation work in the hope that some of you reading this become motivated to pursue similar approaches to other echocardiographic techniques from your own institutions. To quote the conclusion of these authors, ‘Further comparisons of 3DE to surgical findings and pathologic specimens as the technology continues to advance will improve understanding of the strengths and limitations of this modality.’”

Following this Imaging-Anatomic Correlation case series are three reports from The Hemodynamic Corner. Asachi et al. share a series of complementary 2D and Doppler echo parameters to guide assessment of the acute success of mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair procedures. Pandompatam et al. discuss four clinical examples of using point-of-care ultrasound of the superior vena cava to guide management of critically ill patients in the intensive care unit. Offord et al. complete this category with their patient who fell 20 feet out of a tree and within days, underwent urgent valve surgery for severe AR secondary to valve perforation. In a Congenital Heart Disease report, Ardhanari et al. educate readers on the clinical variability and expanding phenotype of Marshall-Smith syndrome, an incredibly rare condition with a prevalence of less than one in one million, in their patient who also had mitral stenosis. Rounding out this issue are two reports in Just Another Day in the Echo Lab: Ahmad et al. deliver findings in a patient who experienced a devastating complication after takotsubo that they believe was triggered by electrical cardioversion, and Sabri et al. expand the list of possibilities for right atrial masses. Read more about the impact of a good CASE, including some noteworthy non-echo examples, in Dr. Sorrell’s editorial, “Science Begins Here.”

Check out the newest Sonographer Sound-Off (SSO) on the CASE Homepage, an interactive feature that provides an opportunity for sonographers to share tips and tricks they have learned in everyday practice. Congratulations to Rachel Wadsworth, BS, RDCS, Carson Homuth, BS, RDCS, FASE, and Sachiyo Igata, PhD, ACS, RDCS (AE, PE), RCCS, FASE from University of California San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco, California, for supplying the images and text for this SSO.

To challenge your imaging and diagnosis skills, visit the CASE Homepage to see the latest Unlock the CASE image quiz, submitted by Alberto Cereda, MD, Matteo Rocchetti, MD, and Antonio Franchina, MD from ASST Santi Paolo e Carlo and the University of Milan, Milan, Italy.

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