Archives for December 2024

The latest issue of CASE is now available with intriguing reports, including “The Spectrum of Diagnostic Findings in Postcardiotomy Tamponade.” CASE Editor-in-Chief Vincent Sorrell, MD, FASE, remarked, “Every month, CASE reminds us why it was started as a mechanism to add value to our clinical practice. This month’s issue was no different as Kamran et al. elegantly described carefully performed echocardiography including correlative CT scans and right heart hemodynamic data. These authors reported their findings on two patients to showcase the array of diagnostic modalities for localized postcardiotomy tamponade. Their first case example with focal RA collapse due to a localized hemorrhage is an impressive image that could very easily be overlooked. In my large, university clinical practice, this deadly pathologic finding is either missed entirely or identified late in its clinical course at least once every year. Reports such as this serve as educational tools to remind us of this post-operative complication and its variable clinical presentation. All individuals who interpret or acquire echo images should read this report to maintain a high index of suspicion so as not to miss this localized tamponade finding.”

This issue opens with the Interventional Echocardiography category, providing readers with a greater understanding of the symbiotic relationship between echo and percutaneous structural heart repairs. Reports include a successful edge-to-edge repair of an interscallop origin of MR, TEE to guide percutaneous mitral valve repair in three patients who were post mitral annuloplasty, and percutaneous mechanical circulatory support in a patient with a post-infarct ventricular septal rupture. A case in the Multimodality Imaging category includes a contrasting comparison between two unique LV apical pathologies with an emphasis on the value of complementary tomographic imaging. Congenital Heart Disease rounds out this issue, reporting on the unintended consequences of a patient who underwent surgery for an atrial septal defect and was found to have a persistent shunt.

In this final issue of 2024, Dr. Sorrell’s editorial describes the connection between echocardiography and crystals, the latter of which we can all appreciate for their embodiment of growth and change as we head into the new year.

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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 50^th 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.