The 2022 February ECHO magazine has been released online! This issue contains articles written by ASE members including the PCHD Council raising awareness during Black History Month and Heart Month, the COPE Council on the Ross Procedure, the CAVUS Council honoring Esther Kim, MD, FASE, with the first CAVUS Luminary Award, memorial tributes to ASE’s 6th President David J. Sahn, MD, FASE, and Xinfang Wang, MD, FASE, and more.

The ECHO magazine is now a monthly online publication. It includes communications from the ASE President, ASE Councils, and Specialty Interest groups (items that were previously found in the “blue pages” of JASE), and the education calendar.

This magazine is also an outlet for all ASE members to contribute interesting articles or images related to cardiovascular ultrasound. Learn more and view all the past issues at ASEcho.org/EchoMagazine.

An important role in your ASE membership each year is to cast your vote for the ASE Board of Directors. We ask that you select the 2022 Slate of Officers and Directors using this ballot. You may only vote for one person for each position. If you prefer to vote for someone other than the person nominated, you may write in additional nominees in the blank spaces provided. All write-in nominees must be active ASE members.

The new officers and directors will be introduced at the 33rd Annual Scientific Sessions during the State of ASE Presidential Address on Saturday, June 11, 2022. This session is open to all Scientific Sessions registrants and will be streamed live for virtual attendees. Your ballot must be received by March 18, 2022.

Learn more about each nominee, and vote today.

The ASE Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease Council is continuing its series of webinars to discuss and share practical tips and tricks in the practice of congenital heart disease imaging.

The next webinar, Contrast Enhanced Echocardiography in Pediatrics, will take place on Thursday, March 10, 2022 from 7:00 – 8:30 PM ET. This webinar will be a presentation-based discussion with focus on the emerging role of contrast enhanced echocardiography imaging in pediatric cardiology.

Moderators: Jennifer Tresness, RDCS(PE/AE), RDMS(FE), FASE, and Seda Tierney, MD, FASE

Speakers: Jarrett Linder, MD, MS; Kasey Chaszczewski, MD; Rebecca Beroukhim, MD; and Michael Convery, RVT, RDCS

Panelists: Shelby Kutty, MD, FASE; Christiane Haeffele, MD; and Kristen Billick, BS, RDCS (AE, PE), ACS, FASE

Earn 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™ for attending this webinar.

Registration is FREE for ASE members.

1. To register, log in to your ASE member portal.
2. Select the ASE Learning Hub from the top red menu.
3. Register for the webinar here.

Course director, William A. Zoghbi, MD, FASE, and co-director, Sunil V. Mankad, MD, FASE, have created the State-of-the-Art Echocardiography Virtual Experience to provide outstanding education on structural heart disease, myocardial disease, coronary artery disease, and more! Register today to join us from anywhere across the globe on February 19 – 20, 2022. 

Features include:

• Case-based learning with a special focus on hemodynamics, structural heart disease, interventional echocardiography, and advanced diastolic function.
• Understanding the impact of artificial intelligence and machine learning on the field of echocardiography.
• Incorporating state-of-the-art clinical applications of echocardiography and Doppler ultrasound into clinical decision-making.
• Utilizing echocardiography in valvular heart disease.
• Evaluating patients prior to, during, and following various structural heart disease procedures such as TAVR, Transcatheter edge-to-edge repair, and left atrial appendage closure.
• Performing a 3D acquisition and measurement of biventricular size and function.
• Assessing right and left ventricular function with state-of-the-art echocardiographic technology including strain imaging.

The live broadcast begins at 9:00 AM ET on Saturday, February 19, 2022. Register by February 18 to access the live broadcast. Faculty will be joining live to answer questions. This course offers 15 CME/MOC credits (pending approval).  All of the live sessions, including the Q&A, will be recorded and available in the ASE Learning Hub March 7, 2022 through May 20, 2022.

The February JASE includes, “Association between Isometric and Allometric Height-Indexed Left Atrial Size and Atrial Fibrillation,” by Flemming Javier Olsen, MD, et al. Dr. Olsen said, “Quantifying left atrial (LA) size is an essential part of the echocardiographic examination, however, indexation to body surface area may provide a misguided impression of atrial size in obese patients. Based on data from the Copenhagen City Heart Study, we proposed normal reference values for LA size indexed to height by various indexing methods. We further showed that LA size by height-based indexation was associated with an increased risk of incident atrial fibrillation, also in obese subjects, and may therefore serve as an alternative for assessing LA size in such individuals.” This clinical investigation topic is explored in a complementary editorial by JASE Associate Editors Brian D. Hoit, MD, FASE, and Sheldon E. Litwin, MD, FASE, “The New Normal: How Should We Assess Cardiac Chamber Sizes and Proportionality across the Full Spectrum of Body Sizes with Varying Degrees of Adiposity?” An additional article in this area by Singh et al. elucidates echocardiographic assessment of the LA.

Other clinical investigations in this issue explore mitral annular disjunction, prediction by echocardiography of heart failure risk in patients with coronary artery disease, POCUS screening of valve disease (accompanied by an editorial), mechanical tricuspid prosthetic valve function, and the diagnostic yield of fetal echocardiography indications. Several Letters to the Editor and Brief Research Communications round out this issue’s scientific matter.

The February CME article is “Mitral Annular Disjunction of Degenerative Mitral Regurgitation: Three-Dimensional Evaluation and Implications for Mitral Repair,” by Benjamin Essayagh, MD, et al.

This month, which is American Heart Month, the President’s Message from Raymond Stainback, MD, FASE, explores how ASE is striving to improve heart health through research. The continuing education and meeting calendar outlines a multitude of learning options near and far.

Each year, ASE honors the best of the best in the field of echocardiography. Join us in congratulating this year’s award recipients. They will be honored at this year’s 33rd Annual Scientific Sessions.

PHYSICIAN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD – Arthur Labovitz, MD, FACC, FACP, FCCP, FASE, FAHA

MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARD – Neil Weissman, MD, FACC, FASE

RICHARD POPP EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AWARD – Gregory Ensing, MD, FASE

ASE MENTORSHIP AWARD – Karen Zimmerman, BS, ACS, RDCS (AE, PE), RVT, FASE

SONOGRAPHER LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD – Carol Mitchell, PhD, RDMS, RVT, RT(R), ACS, FASE, RSDMS 

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN PERIOPERATIVE ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY – Annette Vegas, MD, FASE

FOUNDERS’ AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY FOR PEDIATRIC AND CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE – Lisa Hornberger, MD, FASE

NEW: COUNCIL ON CIRCULATION & VASCULAR (CAVUS) LUMINARY AWARD – Esther Kim, MD, MPH, RPVI, FASE

Every spring, the ASE Foundation funds ASE Council Training Grants for trainees and sonographers to support their attendance at the ASE Annual Scientific Sessions. These grants are part of an ongoing effort by the Foundation, in assistance with the ASE Council Steering Committees, to encourage trainees in cardiovascular specialties to focus on the respective echocardiography subspecialty and to recruit enthusiastic new members to the Councils. Applicants must be a current member of ASE in order to apply for one of the Council Training Grants.

Application is open in the following disciplines:

• Cardiovascular Sonography
• Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease
• Perioperative Echocardiography
• Circulation & Vascular Ultrasound

Previous recipients of an ASEF Training Grant are not eligible to apply.

Applications for the training grants are now being accepted for this year’s ASE Scientific Sessions in Seattle, WA! Visit this page to learn more. Application closes Monday, April 18, 2022.

An important role in your ASE membership each year is to cast your vote for the ASE Board of Directors. We ask that you select the 2022 Slate of Officers and Directors using this ballot. You may only vote for one person for each position. If you prefer to vote for someone other than the person nominated, you may write in additional nominees in the blank spaces provided. All write-in nominees must be active ASE members.

The new officers and directors will be introduced at the 33rd Annual Scientific Sessions during the ASE Presidential Address, Awards and State of the ASE Plenary Session on Saturday, June 11, 2022.  Your ballot must be received by March 18, 2022.  Learn more about each nominee here, and vote today.