Archives for December 2024

Best in Snow: December JASE

The December issue of JASE includes a state-of-the-art review titled, “Noninvasive Imaging for Native Aortic Valve Regurgitation.” Lead author Vidhu Anand, MBBS, FASE, remarks, “Comprehensive evaluation of aortic regurgitation (AR) includes assessing valve morphology, AR severity and mechanism, and left ventricular (LV) remodeling. Quantification of regurgitant volume and effective regurgitant orifice area is essential, with integration of semiquantitative and qualitative parameters when quantification is not feasible. Advanced imaging techniques, such as cardiac magnetic resonance, are valuable for assessing AR severity and detecting early LV dysfunction, especially when echocardiographic findings are inconclusive or discordant.”

This issue’s original investigations incorporate a variety of topics including early fetal echocardiography, congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries, cardiac mechanics in HCM, and glycemic control and cardiac function in diabetes mellitus. One editorial comment accompanies the original investigation in early fetal echocardiography, discussing early heart checks and the role of transvaginal cardiac imaging in clinical practice. Four brief research communications follow with reports on LV diastolic dysfunction in patients with heart failure with a higher ventricular ejection fraction, how to balance safety with accuracy in lung ultrasound, improving prenatal detection of congenital heart disease, and the RV to pulmonary artery coupling and prognosis in transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis. Rounding out this issue are two letters to the editor related to the impact of perivascular amyloid deposition on cardiac remodeling in AL amyloidosis.

This month’s President’s Message highlights a gift you might like to consider for yourself this holiday season: attendance at ASE’s 50th anniversary celebration in Nashville next September. Attendees of the ASE 50 Experience will have many exciting improvements in store including an ASE Goes Green campaign to reduce the environmental footprint, a new content delivery platform, and more!

A new call for papers is open now! A focus issue on chamber quantification is set for publication in early 2026. Papers that address any aspect of echocardiography in quantitative assessment of the cardiac chambers should be submitted by June 1, 2025. Please direct questions to JASE managing editor Debbie Meyer at dmeyer@asecho.org.

Tune into our Author Spotlight page for interviews between JASE Editor-in-Chief Patricia Pellikka, MD, FASE, and authors of recently published papers. November’s interview features Nils Sofus Borg Mogensen, MD, discussing his paper, “Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography in Low-Gradient Aortic Stenosis.”

Please see the December ASE Education Calendar for a listing of educational opportunities far and wide.