With many of our members engaged in working with zoos to echo animals or working on research projects studying animal heart and circulatory systems to bring knowledge to the understanding of human diseases and conditions, ASE is thrilled to announce that a new veterinary section will now be included in ASE’s online case reports journal, CASE. Veterinary/comparative medicine submissions are now being accepted! Case submissions can include any type of cardiovascular imaging.

This section of the journal is being managed by our new Associate Editor of CASE, Rebecca L. Stepien, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Cardiology), Clinical Professor, Cardiology, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. She and an esteemed group of veterinary colleagues will review the case submissions.

CASE is listed on PubMed and is published every other month. Our goal is to publish the first veterinary case in December 2019. As an added bonus for this new section, ASE and Elsevier are funding publication of the first 10 accepted veterinary cases and Boehringer-Ingelheim Vetmedica has offered funding for the next seven.

Click here for submission details. Questions? Contact CASE Managing Editor, Debbie Meyer at dmeyer@ASEcho.org.

Durham, NC, September 2, 2019 – Final data from the World Alliance Societies of Echocardiography (WASE) Normal Values Study was presented this morning as a part of the late-breaking science at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress in Paris, France. The data presented focuses specifically on 2D left ventricular dimensions, volumes, and function. The WASE Normal Values Study, which was launched in 2016, is unique in that it provides normal reference values of echocardiographic parameters in adults across a wide range of age, race, and ethnicity from 15 different countries. In contrast to previous studies, WASE included head-to-head inter-country and inter-race comparisons, in which all technical differences in data acquisition between regions were minimized and standardized by using state-of-the-art equipment and strictly following the 2015 ASE and European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) updated recommendations for chamber quantification. In addition, data analysis and interpretation were conducted uniformly by a core-laboratory at MedStar Health Research Institute and the University of Chicago. Read more here.

In observance of the U.S. federal Labor Day holiday, we will be closed on Monday, September 2, 2019. Normal office hours will resume on Tuesday, September 3, 2019. Have a safe and happy holiday.

Are you attending the European Society of Cardiology’s (ESC) Congress in Paris this weekend? Make sure you stop by ASE’s Booth I01 in the ESC Plaza Hall 4 to pick up your FREE, updated ASE Guidelines thumb drive, and learn more about the latest ASE educational products. All products are an additional 20% discount off membership pricing while we are at the show. You can also register onsite for one of ASE’s valuable live educational courses, including Echo Florida, Echo Hawaii, and State-of-the-Art Echocardiography. The ESC Exhibit Hall and ASE’s booth will be open Saturday, August 31 – Tuesday, September 3 from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

Also, do not miss Federico Asch, MD, FASE, present late-breaking science, Similarities and Differences in Cardiac Chamber Size and Function Among Races and Nationalities: Results of the World Alliance of Societies of Echocardiography (WASE) Normal Values Study on Monday, September 2, from 8:30 – 10:00 AM at Amsterdam – Village 1.

Join Enrique Garcia-Sayan, MD, FASE, for a LIVE webinar Wednesday, September 25 at 2:00 PM US EDT as he reviews Echocardiographic Evaluation of Mitral Regurgitation for Percutaneous Valve Repair. Click here to find out when the webinar is taking place in your timezone.

Registration is FREE for ASE members. You can claim 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ after the webinar is recorded and posted.

Learning objectives include:

• Describe the steps for the comprehensive echocardiographic assessment and quantification of mitral regurgitation.
• Summarize the key echocardiographic criteria for optimal patient selection for percutaneous mitral valve repair.
• Understand the role of real-time two- and three-dimensional TEE in the intraprocedural guidance for percutaneous mitral valve repair.
• Appreciate the parameters for post-procedural assessment after percutaneous mitral valve repair and assessment of residual mitral regurgitation, and differences with native valve regurgitation.

Interested in this topic, but the scheduled time is not convenient for you?  Register for the live webinar, and an email will be sent to you once the recorded webinar is available in your content on ASEUniversity. You may then view it at your convenience.

Calling all investigators! Submit your basic or clinical research for a chance to present at the 30th Annual Echo Hawaii, January 20-24, 2020. Submissions are free, and authors chosen to present receive $100 off their conference registration. Selected authors are also entered into a poster competition and have the chance at further prizes and recognition. Visit the website to review all the details for 2020’s Call for Science on the Big Island, at the beautiful Westin Hapuna Beach Resort. Submissions will open Sunday, September 1, and close Friday, November 1, at 11:59 pm EST – don’t miss out!

Did you know you have access to 23.5 FREE CME/MOC at your fingertips through ASEUniversity? New free CME/MOC activities are added every month. All you have to do is log in to your Member Portal, click on Education at the top of the page, and select Free CME (Members Only) from the drop down menu.

What’s New?

• Guidelines for the Evaluation of Valvular Regurgitation after Percutaneous Valve Repair or Replacement a live webinar recording by Dr. Zoghbi (1.0 CME/MOC)
• A Doppler Echocardiographic Pulmonary Flow Marker of Massive or Submassive Acute Pulmonary Embolus (1.0 CME/MOC)

As an ASE member, the CME/MOC credits you earn through ASEUniversity can be transferred to your appropriate credentialing body (ARDMS, CCI, ABIM, ABP, ABA). Just make sure that your birthdate and your registry number(s) are listed on your member record. Not sure if it’s listed? Log in to the Member Portal and review the ‘Update Your Profile’ section to ensure your information is saved.

If you have any questions, or need further assistance, please contact our Education Department at 919-861-5574 or via email at ASEU@ASEcho.org.

Were you unable to attend ASE 2019 in Portland? We are pleased to announce that the ASE 2019 Scientific Sessions Online Library is now available for purchase. Here are just a few sessions you won’t want to miss:

• Diastology: Lifting the Fog
• Stop the Struggles: Assessment of Right Heart
• Hemodynamics and Physiology of Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction
• Echo Technology at the Cutting Edge of Knowledge
• Stress Echo: Not Just Artery Disease. Get with the Guidelines
• Valvular Regurgitation/Stenosis: How to Quantify
• Law and Echo

ASE members can purchase the entire Library for only $299 which is a bargain when you consider there are a total of 573 presentations.That’s just over 50 cents per presentation! Options are also available to purchase single sessions. Take a look around and search for the topics of interest to you.

Thank you to everyone who submitted images for the ASE 2020 Image Calendar Competition. Now it is time to vote for your favorite images to be featured in a colorful, 12-month calendar that will be sent to all members who renew by December 31, 2019. Help your friends and colleagues win by voting today.

To vote for your favorite echo images:

1. Browse the images uploaded in the ASE 2020 Calendar Contest Image Library.
2. Under “Statistics” on the right, select “Actions,” then select “Add to Favorites“
3. Designate “Favorite” for as many images as you’d like.

Each favorite selection counts as one vote. If you have any questions, please contact ASE at acooper@asecho.org. We need your input to create a beautiful and interesting 2020 image calendar.

The August JASE contains an editorial commentary, “Who Is a Competent Echocardiographer?,” by two past ASE Presidents, Thomas Ryan, MD, FASE, and Susan E. Wiegers, MD, FASE. It was penned to accompany the clinical competency statement, which also runs in this issue, “2019 ACC/AHA/ASE Advanced Training Statement on Echocardiography (Revision of the 2003 ACC/AHA Clinical Competence Statement on Echocardiography): A Report of the ACC Competency Management Committee,” of which Drs. Ryan and Wiegers were co-authors. They write, “Echocardiography has become indispensable to the practice of cardiology, and as a result, most cardiologists use echocardiography in their daily practice and consider themselves competent in the field. Training in echocardiography, therefore, is an integral part of all cardiovascular fellowship programs. Achieving and maintaining competency in a widely used and dynamic area such as echocardiography are both essential and challenging. How do we define competence, and who decides whether an individual is competent?”

Other JASE articles cover new cardiac ultrasound technologies, echo in heart failure, echo in the athlete’s heart, transesophageal echo, atrial septal device interventions, and echo in children. The President’s Message by Madhav Swaminathan, MD, MMCi, FASE, “Say It Like You Mean It: Why Diversity and Inclusion Matter,” and the Sonographers’ Communication by Carol Mitchell, PhD, RDMS, RDCS, RVT, RT(R), ACS, FASE, “Grayscale Analysis of Carotid Plaque: An Overview,” would be excellent to share with up-and-coming echocardiographers and sonographers.