As 2017 draws to a close, ASE would once again like to hear from our most important stakeholders – our members and the medical community – about your practice and the latest trends in the field. Please take a few minutes of your time to help ASE gain insight about topics such as expanding uses of cardiovascular ultrasound, application of emerging technologies, and specific utilization preferences and trends.

Your responses will help ASE plan future educational and quality initiatives, and advance our mission of improving the practice of cardiovascular ultrasound for better patient outcomes. Since we know your time is valuable, we are offering a chance to win one of two $50 VISA gift cards to all who participate, so make sure to enter your name and email address at the end of the survey. Also, please feel free to forward the survey link to others or post it on any non-ASE medical forums you may belong to. The survey can be accessed here. Thank you very much for your participation!

At the ASE Foundation, October is very special because it’s Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month (MUAM)! MUAM was established to provide the public with a better understanding of ultrasound and its many uses in healthcare.

In honor of MUAM, the ASE Foundation encourages you to show the sonographers in your life how important they are to you by making a donation in their honor! Donate between today and October 31st 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!

ASE is excited to let you know that we will be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 4th World Summit on Echocardiography on October 5-7, 2017. Organized by the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI), ASE, and the Cardiovascular Imaging Department of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology (DIC-SBC), the event is a collaboration with a consortium of Scientific Societies in Echocardiography, with the purpose of providing cardiovascular ultrasound training in places around the world where the training will make a difference. Many ASE members will serve as faculty including Drs. Vera Rigolin, Roberto Lang, and Benjamin Eidem. Previous World Summit events were held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Gurgaon, India, and Beijing, China.

This meeting is also a great opportunity to renew your 2018 ASE membership and have the onsite staff walk you through the new benefits and online education. Also, pick up your FREE, updated ASE Guidelines thumb drive and translated poster, and learn more about the latest ASE educational products.

Add the latest valve pocket guidelines to your collection. These FIVE pocket guidelines are based on the ASE guidelines, four of which were released in April 2017. They are available individually or in a valve bundle. Take advantage of your member discount by visiting ASEMarketPlace to purchase yours today.  Posters, Inserts, and Flip Chart Posters are also available.

Read release here.

Don’t miss your chance to present your basic or clinical research in sunny Hawaii in January. ASE is now accepting abstracts for the 28th Annual Echo Hawaii meeting to be considered for poster presentation. Submission is free of charge, and presenting authors are eligible for a $100 discount off their conference registration. A “Best Poster Prize” will recognize the top work presented. Visit the Echo Hawaii Call for Science page for more information. Submission closes Wednesday, November 1. 

The September JASE includes “Three-Dimensional Echocardiographic Automated Quantification of Left Heart Chamber Volumes Using an Adaptive Analytics Algorithm: Feasibility and Impact of Image Quality in Nonselected Patients,” by Medvedofsky et al. This prospective study tested an automated 3D echocardiographic technique for left heart chamber quantification in non-selected patients. Co-author Victor Mor-Avi, PhD, FASE, said that “We found that analysis was feasible in 90% of consecutive patients, but reliably accurate measurements were obtained in 66%, including those with adequate image quality, as defined in the article. We also found that the accuracy of the automated measurements was improved by editing the endocardial boundaries by an experienced reader, but did not change significantly when performed by readers without 3D echocardiography training. Importantly, however, the default fully automated measurements were accurate in the above patients, rendering border corrections non-essential. We suggest that this automated approach may overcome the workflow limitations and facilitate further integration of 3D quantification in clinical practice.”

As is the tradition, this JASE also includes a photo spread of the highlights from the 28th Annual Scientific Sessions, June 2-6, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Do you have a research idea but need funding to get it started? The ASE Foundation is now accepting proposals for its annual research grant program. We invite research proposals relevant to the value of echo-guided procedures in interventional care and their impact on patient outcomes. Of particular interest are proposals that provide comparative or demonstrative evidence of the key role echocardiography plays in cardiac and/or vascular surgical, catheter-based or device-placement related procedures.

For more details, please visit ASEFoundation.org/2017-research-grant. Proposals are due by October 31, 2017.

IAC Echocardiography will present a live webinar (followed by a Q&A session) on Tuesday, September 12, 2017 at 1 PM ET, entitled Echocardiographic Assessment of Diastolic Function. This webinar will be presented by Merri L. Bremmer, EdD, RN, RDCS, FASE, and is a joint presentation of IAC, ASE, and the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS).  This webinar will discuss technical tips for echo assessment of diastolic function and diastolic function assessment as detailed in the 2016 ASE Diastolic Function Guidelines. Registered participants will receive 1.0 ASE CEU credit. Register here.