Let The Show(CASE) Go On

The latest issue of CASE is now available with some intriguing reports, including “Severe Spontaneous Echocardiographic Contrast in a Patient With Normal Heart and Chronic Lymphocytic Lymphoma” by Rahul M. Prasad, MD et al. CASE Editor-in-Chief, Vincent L. Sorrell, MD, FASE, remarked, “In a striking report, Prasad et al. demonstrate a patient with severe spontaneous echocardiographic contrast (SEC) observed in all cardiac chambers mimicking the appearance of an echo after the injection of a manufactured ultrasound enhancing agent. Interestingly, their patient had a structurally normal heart without SEC on an earlier echo. This CASE serves to remind us that at times, we simply must report what we see, but will be unable to confidently solve the mechanistic mysteries of the heart.”

This issue features another case in the Atypical Presentations of Heart Disease category, which supplies graphic images of the fractured sternal wire puncturing the RV free wall in a rare post-sternotomy complication. Additionally, there are two reports in both the Valvular Heart Disease and Cardiac Tumors and Pseudotumors categories, including one of a patient with severe TR as a new cause for pulmonary vein Doppler systolic flow reversal. Insights from Veterinary Clinical Cardiovascular Medicine are presented in two dog cases, including a report of the interventional echo studies and percutaneous structural interventions performed in dogs as they stent a pulmonary artery compressed by a tumor. Relating the art form of music to that of medicine, Dr. Sorrell’s editorial categorizes the operational styles of echo labs into genres of music.

We are excited to announce the 2022 CASE of the YearExtrinsic Circumflex Coronary Artery Compression and Occlusion by Mycotic Aneurysm of Left Aortic Sinus, which was presented by Ramesh C. Bansal, MD, FACC, FASE, on behalf of his co-authors during the ShowCASE session at ASE 2023. Check out the CASE homepage to read about this article and the other four finalists who represented the top CASEs published in 2022, as chosen by the CASE Editorial Team. The ShowCASE session also featured the MACH-1 Rapid-Fire portion, where nine sonographers presented their cases on one slide in under 60 seconds. All presenters did a remarkable job, setting a high standard for future ShowCASEs. Submit YOUR CASE report, and maybe you will be chosen to present at ASE 2024!

Register Now: 2nd Annual Echo in PCHD

Virtual Experience, September 30 – October 1, 2023

Registration is now open for the 2nd Annual Echo in Pediatric & Congenital Heart Disease Echo Access Virtual Experience, which will take place September 30-October 1, 2023. This two-day virtual course will contain echo-specific education for the pediatric community. Expert physician and sonographer faculty, led by Course Co-Chairs Bruce Landeck, II, MD, FASE, and Melissa Wasserman, RDCS, RCCS, FASE, will discuss current technologies with a particular focus on how they can be effectively applied in the clinical setting.

This year’s program is aimed primarily toward sonographers, both adult and congenital cardiology, and the sessions will focus on career development and well-being. All sessions will have dedicated Question and Answer time where faculty will be joining live to answer questions. Participants can earn up to 13 CME/MOC credits. Remember to log in to your ASE Member Portal before registering to receive discounted registration fees.

Meet JASE’s New Deputy Editor, Peter S. Rahko, MD, FASE

We are pleased to announce that Peter S. Rahko, MD, FASE, who has contributed his time and expertise to the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography (JASE) for many years, officially began his role as the publication’s Deputy Editor on July 1, 2023. Dr. Rahko has a deep appreciation for where JASE has been, where it is currently, and where it can go.

Dr. Rahko is the successor of Victor Mor-Avi, PhD, FASE, who spent the last 14 and a half years as the Deputy Editor of JASE before retiring from the position in June 2023. During his tenure, Dr. Mor-Avi worked with three JASE Editors-in-Chief and played an integral role in building JASE into a powerful force in the international cardiovascular ultrasound community. ASE expresses our sincere appreciation and admiration for Dr. Mov-Avi for his many years of dedication to the Journal!

ASE 2024 Scientific Sessions Call for Session Proposals

ASE 2023 may have recently ended, but we are already looking ahead to next year’s Scientific Sessions! ASE is seeking session proposals for our 35th Annual Scientific Sessions, which will be held June 14-16, 2024, in Portland, Oregon. Your session proposals enable us to provide cutting-edge content to meeting attendees. Sessions should:

  • Highlight innovation and advances in Cardiovascular Ultrasound in clinical, educational, and research applications
  • Promote current and new ASE guidelines to advance quality in Cardiovascular Ultrasound to enhance clinical decision-making
  • Facilitate the acquisition of practical knowledge, skills, and experience by attendees
  • Provide balanced content for physicians, sonographers, cardiovascular care team members, and emerging/early-career faculty
  • Address perceived skills and knowledge gaps across all levels of expertise
  • Include a variety of presentation and learning formats to enhance educational engagement and address different learning styles

Deadline for all submissions: August 31, 2023

Notification of selected sessions: November 30, 2023

Submit Your Images for the 2024 Image Calendar by August 9

2024 marks the 10th year ASE members have contributed their images to the ASE Echo Image Calendar which has become a very popular member renewal gift. Members are encouraged to upload cardiovascular images for the 2024 Image Calendar Contest by Wednesday, August 9. Please include a brief description of your image. Voting for the favorite images to be included in the colorful, 12-month calendar will close on Wednesday, September 13. All members who renew by December 31, 2023, will receive the 2024 calendar in the mail*.

To upload your images, visit the ASE 2024 Calendar Contest Library on Connect@ASE:

  1. Log in to Connect@ASE using your ASE username (email address) and password.
  2. Using the left navigation, scroll to Libraries.
  3. Click on Image Library.
  4. Click on the folder called ASE 2024 Calendar Contest.
  5. Click “Upload Resource” under Folder Contents and upload your image. Image file size cannot exceed 30 MB.
  6. Upload as many images as you would like.
  7. Please include a title and brief description of your image.

Please note that this competition is open to members only. If you have any questions, please contact Kayla Van Ormer at KVanOrmer@ASEcho.org.

*Not including members who live in locations that are not served by the USPS.

The July JASE – Echo in the Age of AI

The July issue of JASE includes “Guidelines and Recommendations for Performance of the Fetal Echocardiogram: An Update from the American Society of Echocardiography.” Co-Chair Mary T. Donofrio, MD, FASE, remarks, “It has been almost two decades since ASE released its last guidelines on fetal echocardiography. Since then, advances in the field and increased collaboration have improved imaging and increased our understanding of fetal cardiac physiology and disease progression. These guidelines will provide updated information on indications for referral as well as recommendations on timing of initial and serial follow-up studies for patients with CHD to best care for babies in utero and at delivery. The document also addresses assessment of arrhythmias, cardiac function, and CHD that progresses in utero, and gives instruction on the approach to imaging single ventricles and CHD with AV valve, outflow, or arch abnormalities. This document is the first to offer detailed guidelines for imaging of the fetal heart beyond describing normal, but also to include recommendations when fetal cardiovascular disease is present.

Clinical investigations in this issue include the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in rheumatic heart disease screening by novices, prognostic stratification of clinically stable patients with heart failure by an echocardiographic pressure/volume loop model, and features of infective endocarditis and bicuspid aortic valve through the lens of valve morphology. This issue further explores the focus topic of AI and echocardiography with articles on fully automated artificial intelligence assessment of aortic stenosis, unsupervised time-series clustering of left atrial strain for cardiovascular risk assessment, and a test-retest study on improved precision and reproducibility of LV strain. Readers can also look forward to an editorial discussing necessary changes to data design for echocardiography’s big data age.

In his inaugural President’s Message, Benjamin W. Eidem, MD, FASE, expands on the three membership-focused initiatives he will embark upon in this upcoming year.

Clarivate has released the 2022 Impact Factors, which for JASE is 6.5. JASE maintains its rank of 27 out of 142 cardiology journals, placing it in the top quartile.

ASE Appoints 2023-2024 Board President

 

 

 


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

American Society of Echocardiography Appoints 2023-2024 Board President

(DURHAM, NC, June 30, 2023)—The American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) is pleased to announce the appointment of Benjamin W. Eidem, MD, FASE, as the organization’s new Board of Directors President, effective July 1, 2023.

During the 34th Annual Scientific Sessions in National Harbor, Md., June 23-26, Dr. Eidem shared his vision as the 2023-2024 ASE President. ASE is the largest global organization for cardiovascular ultrasound professionals, enthusiasts, and multidisciplinary partners, and he explained that his presidency will primarily focus on the value of membership in the Society. As only the second pediatric cardiologist to lead ASE since it was founded in 1975, he plans to focus on three important initiatives he sums up as (1) ASE Matters, (2) ASE Mentors and (3) ASE Educates.

ASE Matters will help expand the organization’s opportunities for leadership and service, ASE Mentors will help foster engagement among new and longtime members and facilitate the training of future leaders in the field, and ASE Educates will address the ongoing need for education and training of adult sonographers in the area of adult congenital heart disease to better serve patients.

“Cardiovascular ultrasound imaging is a challenging and rewarding field comprised of a diverse group of professions made up of many specialties and subspecialties,” said Dr. Eidem. “In my term as President, I want to balance the varied needs of individual members, while also addressing the needs of our entire field. Increased member involvement advances and grows ASE and cardiovascular ultrasound.”

Dr. Eidem has held numerous leadership and volunteer positions on committees, councils, task forces, and writing groups, and served as chair of the Finance and Education committees, among others. He has been a member of ASE since 1995 and achieved Fellowship status from the Society in 2003. He most recently served on the Executive Committee on ASE’s Board of Directors as the 2022-2023 President-Elect.

Originally from St. Paul, Minn., Dr. Eidem earned his medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Mich. He completed his residency in Pediatrics from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, before moving back to his home state to complete his fellowship in Pediatric Cardiology from Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. He is currently the Director of Pediatric and Congenital Echocardiography at Mayo Clinic and is a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in the Departments of Pediatrics and Cardiology.

ASE membership also elected ten new Board members to serve the Society starting July 1, 2023. The ASE Executive Committee welcomes newly elected Vice President David H. Wiener, MD, FASE, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, who will serve a one-year term.

The following new Board members were elected to serve two-year terms: Craig Fleishman, MD, FASE, Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Orlando, FL (Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease Council); Enrique Garcia-Sayan, MD, FASE, FACC, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX (Member at Large); Allison Hays, MD, FASE, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, (Member at Large); Lanqi Hua, ACS, APCA, RDCS (AE, PE, FE) MS, FASE, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA (Member at Large); Sheela Pai-Cole, MD, FASE, Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, CA (Perioperative Echocardiography Council); Lucy Safi, DO, FASE, Mount Sinai, New York City, NY (Leadership Academy Representative); Seda Tierney, MD, FASE, Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, CA (Member at Large); and Susan Wiegers, MD, FASE, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA (Past President Representative). Paul Mayo, MD, FASE, Northwell Health, New Hyde Park, NY (Critical Care Echocardiography Council) will serve a one-year term.

Learn more about ASE by visiting, ASEcho.org.

About American Society of Echocardiography
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, Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Registration and Housing are Now Open for the 11th Annual Echo Florida

Join us for ASE’s 11th Annual Echo Florida course that will take place October 7-9, 2023, at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resorts in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. This course offers a comprehensive review of cardiovascular ultrasound and includes dedicated sessions on cardiomyopathies, coronary artery disease (including stress testing), valvular heart disease, pericardial disease, heart failure, emerging technologies, complex congenital heart disease and case-based demonstrations on the role of 2D, and real time 3D/4D echocardiography, as well as strain imaging. Attendees can earn up to 23.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™.

Three Grants Worth Up to $25,000 Will be Awarded to Early Career Investigators

Deadline to Apply is July 1, 2023

The deadline to apply for the ASE and the ASE Foundation’s Early-Career Development Grant for Echo Scientists (EDGES) is quickly approaching! Early-career echo scientists in cardiovascular imaging can submit their application until 5:00 PM ET on July 1, 2023.

This funding opportunity will award three grants worth up to $25,000 USD to early-career clinical, basic science, or engineering investigators who are conducting research projects that address a clinical gap in cardiovascular ultrasound imaging.

There are no specific research themes that will be prioritized, and clinical gaps may include, but are not limited to: new imaging technologies, novel approaches or populations for diagnostic imaging, ultrasound therapy, workflow automation, or patient/practitioner safety. Physicians, PhDs, veterinarians, sonographers, and other healthcare professionals who are within seven years from having completed training are eligible to apply. The principal investigator must be an active ASE member.

Key Dates

  • Application Deadline: July 1, 2023, by 5:00 PM EST
  • Scientific Review (anticipated): September 2023
  • Earliest Start Date: October 1, 2023

Read the June Echo Magazine

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

ASE members can write and submit articles to Echo magazine for publication. The article submission deadline for the September 2023 issue is July 15. Visit ASE’s website to review the author submission guideline requirements on formatting, word length, etc. Contact Echo@ASEcho.org with questions and view past issues at ASEcho.org/EchoMagazine.