Archives for March 2017

Register for the Upcoming Live Guideline-based Webinar

Join Patricia Pellikka, MD, FASE, on Thursday, April 27 at 11:00 AM Eastern Time, for an interactive live webinar as she reviews the Clinical Use of Stress Echocardiography in Non-Ischemic Heart Disease. During this webinar, Dr. Pellikka will discuss how stress echocardiography allows for simultaneous assessment of myocardial function and hemodynamics under physiological or pharmacological conditions. The topic of stress echo becoming widely implemented to assess various conditions other than ischemic heart disease will also be discussed. Earn 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ for attending this live webinar event.

To ensure your FREE registration for this event, please follow these three simple steps.

  1. Log on to your ASE Member Portal with your ASE username (email) and password.
  2. Select “ASEUniversity and CME Credits” on the left.
  3. Select “Live Webinars” on the left and “Register” found in the Live Webinar Event Summary

CMS Delays Expansion of Bundled Payment Programs

On Monday, CMS announced that they will delay expansion of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement bundle and its bundled payment initiatives for cardiac care bundled payment programs. The effective date is being moved from July 1, 2017 to October 1, 2017. Learn more here.

In other Advocacy related news, you can also download a document related to the Trump Administration’s Blueprint Budget for Fiscal Year 2018 with highlights of the healthcare related provisions.

Last Chance to Take Advantage of Early Bird Rates for the Review Course

Register before March 29th for this year’s Review Course and save $100. The Review Course has been specifically designed by ASE as a preparatory course for the National Board of Echocardiography, Inc.™ ASCeXAM® and ReASCE® examinations. The expert faculty, led by Roberto Lang, MD, FASE, will emphasize illustrative cases and will use case studies, lectures, and interactive sessions to cover all aspects of cardiovascular ultrasound that are essential to these exams. New this year, the faculty will walk you through ASCeXam questions after each session in addition to an audience response system that will facilitate faculty interaction and self-guided learning. Please plan to join us at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, April 29 – May 2, 2017 for this intensive review course. Download the Advance Program, register, and learn more at ASEcho.org/ReviewCourse.

New ASE Guidelines for Evaluating Valve Regurgitation – An Integrative Approach

Read release here.

March Product of the Month

This month, ASEMarketPlace is featuring ASE’s Guideline Reference e-Book. This online e-Book offers a convenient format for quick reference to a collection of charts and illustrations derived from ASE’s guidelines for cardiovascular ultrasound. This e-Book contains a visual representation of 15 ASE Guidelines. It is a valuable resource for both physicians and technicians, covering a wide variety of topics including Chamber Quantification, 3D, TEE, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, and more!

Designed to immediately include new guideline illustrations as they are published, this resource will effortlessly keep your lab up-to-date. ASE members save $25 annually on ASE’s Guideline Reference e-Book and receive a discount on all products, so do not forget to login to the member portal  before purchasing.

Give Where Your Heart Is

The ASE Foundation is welcoming the first day of Spring by holding its second annual Spring Giving Day on Monday, March 20! Join us as we spring into action for this year’s Annual Appeal with a goal to raise $5,000 in 24 hours. Every gift – $15, $25, $50, or any amount that is right for you – brings us closer to our target.

Your gift on Spring Giving Day will foster the future of echocardiography by supporting scholarships and travel grants to young professionals in the field. Each and every gift you give to the ASE Foundation makes a difference in the projects you support and the people you help. 100% of all giving is allocated to charitable projects. Learn more here.

Review the Latest Guidelines at the 28th Annual Scientific Sessions

The ASE 2017 Scientific Sessions is the perfect place to obtain an in-depth understanding of the newest ASE Guidelines and learn how you can implement them in your practice. Many of the lead authors have been incorporated into the program to personally give their advice on using the new standards. Talks on specific recommendations include, Evidence Based Echo from Abstracts, by Chair of the Transposition of the Great Arteries Guidelines, Meryl S. Cohen, MD, FASE, and Diastology Boot Camp and Diastolic Function: From Invasive to Noninvasive Assessment by Diastolic Function Chair, Sherif Nagueh, MD, FASE. You can also hear from Thomas R. Porter, MD, FASE who will discuss Contrast – the New Millennium and Jack Rychik, MD who will present The Circle of Life in Congenital Heart Disease. Other hot topics include Valvular Stenosis, Valvular Regurgitation, Strain, Aortic Disease, A Care Pathway for Echo Year One Post Myocardial Infarction, Left Ventricular Diastolic Function, and Fetal Echo. Register today to join us at the 28th Annual Scientific Sessions in Baltimore, June 2- 6. Download the Advance Program and the Attendance Justification document to help you make the case for attending the largest cardiovascular ultrasound conference this year.

The March Issue of JASE is Now Available

“Mechanical Dispersion by Strain Echocardiography: A Novel Tool to Diagnose Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in Athletes,” appears in the March issue of JASE, which is now available online. “The diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in athletes is often challenging. Indeed, due to a less severe phenotype, athletes with HCM have frequently a normal global longitudinal strain (GLS). Nevertheless, the use of sub-maximal exercise or mechanical dispersion, assessed by standard deviation of time to maximal myocardial shortening of longitudinal strain, seems to be more robust tools for the diagnosis of HCM in this specific population,” said the article’s lead author Frédéric Schnell, MD, PhD, from the Department of Sport Medicine, Pontchaillou Hospital in Rennes, France.

This issue also includes articles on pediatric echocardiography, left ventricular function in various disorders, left atrial volume, coronary artery disease, Anderson-Fabry disease, and patent foramen ovale.

There’s Less Than One Month Left to Apply for 2017 Council Travel Grants

Don’t miss your opportunity to apply for travel support to attend the ASE Scientific Sessions in Baltimore! Applications are now being accepted for Council Travel Grants to support trainees’ attendance at the annual meeting. Eight grants of $1,000 each will be awarded. Visit ASEFoundation.org/council-travel-grants for more information and to apply. Application closes April 1.

First Issue of CASE is Now Online

Don’t miss the inaugural issue of CASE including 10 case reports from experts around the world. ASE’s new cardiovascular ultrasound case reports journal will be published bi-monthly. CASE topics reflect current practice concerns and feature multiple, complementary imaging modalities. This journal is designed to facilitate the reader’s understanding of complex cases to encourage more accurate diagnosis and ultimately improve patient care. It emphasizes case-based problem solving through critical analysis, insightful solutions, and innovative imaging. CASE was developed for the global community. The editorial board represents echo experts from a wide variety of countries, and featured cases introduce interesting images found across the world. Interested in submitting your case? See the instructions here. Have a mystery image you would like to feature in our “What Is This Image?” feature which debuts in the April issue? Email your image, along with a description of what it displays, to Deborah Meyer, CASE Managing Editor at dmeyer@asecho.org.