FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Angie Porter
919-297-7152
aporter@ASEcho.org

ASE Publishes New Guideline on Cardiac POCUS to Help Optimize Pediatric Patient Care

The guideline provides recommendations for consistency in utilization of cardiac POCUS in children through collaboration across specialties

(DURHAM, NC, March 2, 2023)—Cardiovascular ultrasound is a powerful tool for evaluating cardiac structures and function, and technological advances and education have led to widespread bedside use of cardiac point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). POCUS is a problem-oriented imaging tool enabling practitioners to evaluate and diagnose ventricular function and physiology, but its application to children requires consideration of anatomic and physiologic differences from adult populations and corresponding technical aspects.

A new guideline document from the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) establishes a framework for indications of cardiac POCUS in the pediatric population. Recommendations for Cardiac Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Children: A Report from the American Society of Echocardiography provides more uniform recommendations that address specific considerations of cardiac POCUS in children.

The guideline recommendations were developed by a diverse writing group comprised of experts from different specialties offering an array of perspectives and approaches. The document is intended to facilitate collaboration among subspecialties and pediatric echocardiography laboratories by identifying key considerations regarding indications, imaging recommendations, training and competency assessment, and quality assurance.

“Although the clinical scenarios for someone in the pediatric emergency room, intensive care unit or operating room may vary dramatically, there are common technical factors to consider when imaging children and the same need for appropriate training and quality assurance,” said lead author Jimmy C. Lu, MD, FASE. “Previously, there were not uniform recommendations for utilization in the pediatric population, leading to variation among specialties, sometimes even within the same institution. This guideline aims to define those common considerations and to emphasize the importance of collaboration across specialties to optimize pediatric patient care.”

This document is published in the March 2023 issue of the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography. View all guidelines published by ASE by visiting ASEcho.org/Guidelines.

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 ASE’s website ASEcho.org or social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram.
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PDF of news release.

There is still time to submit your abstract of original science or clinical cases for the ASE 2023 Scientific Sessions in National Harbor, Maryland, June 23-26, 2023. The deadline has been extended one week to Wednesday, February 15, 2023, 11:59 PM ET.

Begin your submission online today!  Presenters benefit from dedicated viewing times, a global audience that promotes future collaborative work, eligibility for travel support, and discounted conference registration rates. Visit the ASE 2023 Call for Science for more information

January 26, 2023, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

Make plans to attend ASE’s next webinar on Thursday, January 26, 2023, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET. Learn about what the future holds for JASE under the direction of its fourth Editor-in-Chief Patricia A. Pellikka, MD, FASE. The presentation is pre-recorded with a live Q&A session to follow. This webinar does not offer CME, and both members and nonmembers can attend for free.

Register now!

Register Now for the Live Q&A Session on CASE 1: January 23, 2023, 5:00 PM ET

The new Critical Care eCASE Series is a blended online learning activity that will cover three Critical Care eCASES through March 2023. Each case will focus on application of echocardiography and general point of care ultrasound (POCUS), to help diagnose a critically ill patient’s physiologic derangement and how serial examinations help with therapeutic management.

The first Q&A Live Session on CASE 1 will be held online on January 23 at 5:00 PM ET. It will focus on a patient with large pericardial effusion but no echocardiographic evidence of tamponade. The patient, however, had signs and symptoms of tamponade and also had renal failure and pre-existing pulmonary hypertension. The case will discuss the management of this patient.

Cardiologists, interventionalists, emergency medicine physicians, and cardiovascular sonographers are encouraged to review case presentations and participate in the three upcoming Critical Care eCASE Series Q&A live sessions. The series is free for ASE Members and $45 for nonmembers. Register in the ASE Learning Hub. Earn up to 4.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (pending approval) for participation in the entire three-part series.

The first issue in 2023 of CASE, ASE’s open access case reports journal, is now available; this Special Issue on Echo in Valvular Heart Disease and Interventional Echo is a companion to the January JASE focus issue. In one report, Tanuka Datta, MD and colleagues from Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, present two examples of the important role of interventional echocardiography during PFO closures. CASE Editor-in-Chief Dr. Vince Sorrell commented, “This CASE report reiterates the symbiotic relationship that is necessary between the proceduralist and the imaging specialist for successful clinical outcomes. In both cases, the patient had suffered a stroke, and the PFO was associated with a large shunt or an atrial septal aneurysm. The authors provide Journal readers with an excellent overview of PFO morphology and offer a standardized terminology for PFO dimensions that should improve the ability to communicate and enhance the likelihood for more optimal device selection. The CASE includes exceptional, high quality still and moving images as well as an educational table and graphic. If you have ever performed a TEE and found a PFO, you will find this report worth reading (and then keeping in your CASE file for future reference).”

This issue also includes three Echo Valvular Heart Disease reports illustrating various clinical presentations of quadricuspid aortic valve disease and a rare congenital case of unileaflet mitral valve. There are also four articles in the Interventional Echocardiography section demonstrating the value of TEE guidance in multiple scenarios and two novel transcatheter procedures. Dr. Sorrell’s editorial, “Best CASE Scenario,” provides an update on the overall state of CASE, highlighting the continued growth of the Journal, a focus on engaging sonographers, and other developments over the past year.

Also, check out the newest Sonographer Sound-Off (SSO) on the CASE Homepage, an interactive feature that provides an opportunity for sonographers to share tips and tricks they have learned in everyday practice. Congratulations to María Elena Sánchez, MD, Trinidad Mitre Institute, Roxana Ratto, MD, Cardiology Offices Doctor T. Padilla, and Mariana Corneli, MD, Institute of Cardiology La Plata, all in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for serving in the role of Sonographer and supplying the images and text for this SSO.

We hope this issue starts your new year off with a bang!

ASE is proud to support the cardiovascular ultrasound community through recognition of outstanding service, research, and training. We are happy to announce and congratulate the ASE 2023 Award Winners! These recipients will be recognized during the 34th Annual ASE Scientific Sessions in National Harbor, Maryland, June 23-26, 2023. These awards are peer-reviewed and were selected by the Awards Committee, chaired by Sherif Nagueh, MD, FASE.

PHYSICIAN LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Rebecca Hahn, MD, FASE – Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY

MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARD
William Zoghbi, MD, FASE – Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX

RICHARD POPP TEACHING AWARD
Cynthia Taub, MD, FASE – Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH

CARDIOVASCULAR SONOGRAPHER DISTINGUISHED TEACHER AWARD
Richard Palma, ACS, RCCS, FACVP, FASE – Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING IN PEDIATRICS AWARD
Peter Frommelt, MD, FASE – Children’s Wisconsin/Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN PERIOPERATIVE ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY AWARD
Madhav Swaminathan, MD, MMCi, FASE – Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC

ASE MENTORSHIP AWARD
Allan Klein, MD, FASE – Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH

Celebrating One Year as a Monthly Publication

This month marks one year since ASE’s Echo magazine increased its publishing frequency from once or twice a year to monthly. In the past year, we’ve been able to more frequently share communications from the ASE President, ASE Councils and Specialty Interest Groups, and ASE members who have contributed interesting articles or images related to cardiovascular ultrasound that are not research articles/images.

There is so much to share about our vital and essential field, and this year, we once again invite all ASE members to consider writing and submitting an article to share with your fellow members and peers. The submission deadline is the 15th of each month, and you can review the guidelines on formatting, word length, and other general information on ASE’s website. Contact Echo@ASEcho.org with questions about this online, open access publication.

Thank you to all who have submitted articles, and we can’t wait to receive your submissions in 2023!