Advancing the frontiers of research in echocardiography to improve the care of patients is arguably our most important mission at ASE. Therefore, this month’s President’s Message is devoted to a very special update by co-chairs Dr. James Thomas and Dr. Luigi Badano on ASE’s collaboration with international colleagues and industry to standardize strain imaging. My hearty congratulations to Drs. Thomas and Badano for work well-done—and a sincere thank you for their continued work on this important issue.
EACVI-ASE-Industry Initiative to Standardize Deformation Imaging
A Brief Update from the Co-Chairs
James D. Thomas and Luigi P. Badano
Echocardiographic quantitation of myocardial deformation has been one of the most significant developments in our field over the last decade, with important applications in basic myocardial mechanics, ischemic heart disease, cardiomyopathies, valvular heart disease, diastolic function, and in detecting preclinical myocardial dysfunction such as in cardiotoxicity in cancer chemotherapy and valvular regurgitation. Unfortunately, several investigators have documented a relatively poor reproducibility when strain is calculated using echocardiographic equipment from different vendors, an issue that threatens widespread clinical application of this important new technology.
Recognizing the critical need for standardization in strain imaging, in 2010, the leaders of the European Association of Echocardiography (now the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging, EACVI) and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) invited technical representatives from all interested vendors to participate in a concerted effort to reduce intervendor variability of strain measurement. Table 1 lists the society and vendor representatives on this committee, which met for the first time at EuroEcho in Copenhagen in December, 2010. This brief report will provide an update on the activities of the committee.
| Founding Societies |
| European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging – Luigi P. Badano, MD, co-chair |
| American Society of Echocardiography – James D. Thomas, MD, co-chair |
| Supporting Societies |
| Japanese Society of Echocardiography |
| Korean Society of Echocardiography |
| Industrial Partners (Hardware) |
| Esaote |
| GE Healthcare |
| Hitachi Aloka Medical, Ltd. |
| Philips Healthcare |
| Samsung Medison |
| SIEMENS Medical Solutions |
| Toshiba Medical Systems |
| Industrial Partners (Software) |
| Epsilon Imaging |
| TomTec Imaging Systems |
| Members (Clinical) |
| Theodore Abraham, MD |
| Gerard Aurigemma, MD |
| Bart Bijnens, PhD |
| Jan D’hooge, MSc, PhD |
| Thor Edvardsen, MD, PhD |
| Alan Fraser, BSc, MB ChB |
| Theodore Kolias, MD |
| Jun Kwan, MD |
| Thomas Marwick, MBBS, PhD |
| Satoshi Nakatani, MD, PhD |
| Gianni Pedrizzetti, PhD |
| David Sahn, MD |
| Partho Sengupta, MBBS, MD, DM |
| Joon-Han Shin, MD |
| Masaaki Takeuchi, MD, PhD |
| Jens-Uwe Voigt, MD, PhD |
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