Archives for December 2023

Sonography students enrolled in an accredited CAAHEP cardiovascular ultrasound program have three days left to apply for the 2024 Feigenbaum Cardiovascular Student Travel Grant. Supported by a grant to the ASE Foundation from Elsevier, Inc. to honor Dr. Harvey Feigenbaum’s commitment and tenure as the Founding Editor of JASE, this grant provides a $1,000 USD travel grant to assist the recipient in attending ASE’s Annual Scientific Sessions or another ASE-sponsored 2024 educational program. Full nomination criteria can be found here. Applications are due December 30.



Sonography students nominated for a 2024 Alan D. Waggoner, MHS, RDCS, FASE Sonographer Student Scholarship Award have until December 30 to complete the Student Nominee Application Form. Contact the Foundation with any questions at Foundation@ASEcho.org. 

If you’ve already renewed your ASE membership for 2024, thank you! Not yet renewed? Your active status will expire on December 31, 2023. Avoid a lapse in your membership and renew today!

1. Renew online in your ASE Member Portal.
2. Request a renewal link by email to renew online (ASE@ASEcho.org).
3. Call the ASE Membership Department directly at 919-861-5574 (Press 1 for the Membership Department). NOTE: ASE Headquarters is closed December 29.

Thank you for choosing to be a member of ASE, and we look forward to continuing to serve you in 2024!

The end of the year is only days away, which means the opportunity to contribute to the ASE Foundation’s 2023 Annual Appeal is almost over. While we are ecstatic to say that as of December 25, we have reached our $200,000 goal having raised $233,164—we are not stopping there! You can still support the Foundation and directly impact next year’s work with a donation by December 31.

Every dollar donated to the ASE Foundation will be used towards charitable projects in 2024. Projects like, student scholarships, global health outreach events, and research, to name a few. If supporting initiatives like these are important to you, you still have the chance to join the more than 1,600 people who have already donated this year.

Remember the deadline! The last day to contribute to the ASE Foundation’s 2023 Annual Appeal is December 31. Thank you for your support—you are what makes us successful!

The December 2023 Echo magazine is now online! This issue contains interesting articles written by ASE members, including:

• The American Society of Echocardiography Foundation (ASEF): Foundation for the Future of Cardiovascular Ultrasound, page 4
• Sonographer Volunteer of the Month-December, Congratulations Jeff Hill, MSc, ACS, FASE, page 8
• A Journey through Interventional Echocardiography, page 10
• Sonographer Career Pathways to FASE: How Can FASE Help Achieve Career Goals and Open Opportunities?, page 12
• Challenges of Patient Management in a Hybrid Operating Room, page 15
• OMG! How Did ASE Get its Fabulous Staff?, page 19
• ASE Foundation Global Health Outreach Event to Vietnam 2023, page 24
• Highlights from ASE’s Multimodality Imaging for Cardiac Surveillance of Cancer Treatment in Children Guideline, page 28

Each monthly issue includes articles or images related to cardiovascular ultrasound that are not research-related, as well as communications from the ASE President, Councils, Specialty Interest Groups, and the ASE education calendar. All active ASE members are eligible to submit articles to the Echo magazine. The submission deadline for the March 2024 issue is January 15. Email Echo@ASEcho.org with questions.

The latest issue of CASE is now available with intriguing reports, including “Two- and Three-Dimensional Transesophageal Echocardiographic Detection of Aortic Dissection Rupture With Extension of Dissection Into the Pulmonary Artery” by Nooli et al. Author Nishank P. Nooli, MD, FASE, remarked, “We present a unique case with combined type 1 aortic and pulmonary artery dissection, wherein both 2D and 3D TEE revealed a rupture of the ascending aortic false lumen into the main pulmonary artery. The dissection flaps within the pulmonary artery were distinctly observed, indicating a continuous connection with and extension from the aortic false lumen. Thus, unlike other cases reported in the literature, echocardiography provided a definitive diagnosis of pulmonary artery dissection resulting from aortic dissection rupture.”

In a second Venous and Arterial Diseases report, authors examine reasons for a patient’s iliac stent migration and include image-guided clinical assessment to consider during treatment. This issue presents two cases in Valvular Heart Disease, including a fetal echo discovery of a rare absent pulmonary valve in a patient with tricuspid atresia, as well as a report with some remarkable videos on an unusual cause of aortic regurgitation in a patient with a sinus of Valsalva aneurysm. Cardiac Tumors and Pseudotumors offers two reports, one highlighting a very rare cause for a stroke with a thrombus on the subvalvular aspect of the mitral valve, and another discussing the role of multimodality imaging in two different clinical presentations of Loeffler endocarditis. The Hemodynamic Corner contains a report using Doppler echo to demonstrate the negative physiologic impact of an intra-aortic balloon pump device in a patient with stress cardiomyopathy and HCM with obstruction.

Dr. Sorrell’s editorial recognizes the important contributions of sonographers to both CASE and the Society as a whole, while also addressing some of the insightful sonographer-submitted questions posed during his time as editor-in-chief.

Looking for a journal to submit your case report to? We want to hear from you! Email us with questions or submit your report today. Be sure to check out the latest Sonographer Sound-Off and Unlock the CASE features on the CASE Homepage to view more extraordinary work from your colleagues.

Download a PDF of the Poster for FREE

Download the free Echocardiography for Cardiac Amyloidosis poster, produced by ASE in collaboration with Pfizer. This new poster, which was created from an article published in JASE, focuses on the common echocardiographic imaging findings of cardiac amyloidosis (CA) and highlights red flags that should raise suspicion for the diagnosis. Additionally, it offers practical tips for image acquisition and interpretation and outlines recommendations for standard reporting of an echocardiogram in a patient with CA.



Access all of ASE’s resources on Echocardiography and Amyloidosis.

Submit your abstract of original science or clinical case report to be considered for presentation at the premier cardiovascular ultrasound conference of the year, the 35^th Annual ASE Scientific Sessions, June 14-16, 2024, in Portland, Oregon.

ASE abstract presenters benefit from dedicated viewing times, a global audience that promotes future collaborative work, eligibility for travel support, and discounted conference registration rates. Accepted abstracts are published in JASE. Share your important findings with fellow investigators and colleagues, and interact with global leaders in the field. Questions? Visit our Guidelines for Abstract Preparation and Submission or FAQ pages for general information. 

The application is open through January 5, 2024

Now is the time to apply to become an ASE Committee volunteer! One benefit of your ASE membership is the ability to get involved with the Society and play an active role in shaping the field of cardiovascular ultrasound.

Follow these steps to complete the Committee Interest Application:



1. Log in to your ASE Member Portal
2. Click “Membership” from the top menu bar
3. Select “Volunteering” to access the “Committee Interest Application”



ASE volunteer groups, like Committees, are comprised of current members who volunteer to help set standards, develop products, create courses, direct subspecialty activities, advocate for echocardiography, and more! Additionally, your participation offers the opportunity for personal development and connections with others in the field. The term of service for new appointments will be July 2024 – June 2026. Questions? Contact Committees@ASEcho.org. 

ASE and its Foundation Award Three $25,000 Grants to Early Career Investigators in Cardiovascular Imaging

The grants will help fund echocardiography research projects led by early career members in the Society

The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) and the ASE Foundation have awarded grant funding totaling $75,000 for three innovative cardiovascular ultrasound research projects led by early career investigators.

The Society’s EDGES (Early-Career Development Grant for Echo Scientists) research program is intended to fund projects that address a clinical gap in cardiovascular ultrasound imaging through research directed by an early career scientist or investigator.

Three recipients were each awarded a $25,000 grant.

• Dr. Xuan Ding, a cardiovascular disease fellow at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., will use the grant to fund research in the development of cardiovascular ultrasound and echocardiographic technology and its applications to clinical cardiovascular medicine.
• Dr. Chieh-Ju Chao, an academic cardiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., will utilize the funding for a collaborative project between Mayo Clinic and Stanford University Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence that seeks to develop an artificial intelligence-enabled echocardiography copilot reporting system.
• Dr. Son “Sonny” Duong, an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Heart Center and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, secured the funding for research focused on the utilization of large data sets and machine-learning technologies to analyze cardiac diagnostics and patient risk prediction.

ASE Past President and Chair of the Society’s Research Committee Dr. Jonathan Lindner explained why this funding is important for the field.

“ASE has always advocated that echocardiography must constantly evolve to meet clinical needs, and therefore prioritizes its support of cutting-edge research. The EDGES grants are designed to support scientists in cardiovascular imaging at one of the most critical times in their professional development,” said Dr. Lindner. “The goal of the program is to assist early career scientists who need financial support to continue their trajectory in echocardiography research, and to generate vital data that can be used for more comprehensive funding mechanisms.”

The EDGES research program was developed to create an avenue for the continued evolution of echocardiography through technical advancement and new applications to meet the needs of increasingly complex patient populations in four ways:

1. Fund early research that will produce preliminary data necessary for a larger grant application.
2. Demonstrate the recipient’s research potential to their division and institution, whose support will be critical for their development.
3. Provide critical and positive feedback for the early career imager who may be unsure if they can successfully attain funding.
4. Build a foundation for launching a research career separate from their mentors.

Learn more about these grants and the recipients at ASEFoundation.org/Research.

About American Society of Echocardiography
The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) is the Society for Cardiovascular Ultrasound Professionals™. ASE is the largest global organization for cardiovascular ultrasound imaging serving physicians, sonographers, nurses, veterinarians, and scientists and as such is the leader and advocate, setting practice standards and guidelines for the field. The Society is committed to advancing cardiovascular ultrasound to improve lives. For more information, visit the ASE website ASEcho.org or social media pages on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

About American Society of Echocardiography Foundation
The ASE Foundation (ASEF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation created in 2003 as ASE’s charitable arm. The Foundation helps to assure the viability and visibility of cardiovascular ultrasound. Dependent upon donor giving not supported by membership dues, ASEF funds initiatives such as training scholarships, guidelines-based projects, research, patient engagement, and global health outreach. For more information, visit the ASEF website: ASEFoundation.org.