Perioperative Echocardiography…Evolving Back to Basics
Roman M. Sniecinski, MD, FASE The tactus eruditus referred to 19 th century physicians’ obsession with palpating the quality, force, and duration of a patient’s pulse. They were interested in…
Detection of Right-to-Left Atrial Communication Using Agitated Saline Contrast Imaging: Experience with 1162 Patients and Recommendations for Echocardiography
Background Right-to-left shunting via a patent foramen ovale (PFO) has a recognized association with embolic events in younger patients. The use of agitated saline contrast injection (ASCi) for detecting atrial…
Continuing Education and Meeting Calendar
The American Society of Echocardiography is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. ASE recognizes courses as supplements to formal training…
Positioning Cardiovascular Ultrasound as a First Choice in Diagnostic Iimaging
Ken Horton, RCS, RDCS, FASE Those of us that have been in the business for a while have witnessed the growth of cardiovascular ultrasound from a diagnostic tool that many…
Happiness and the ASE
Patricia A. Pellikka, MD, FASE You’ve been receiving correspondence and electronic reminders about renewing your annual membership in ASE. I hope you will renew, and encourage your colleagues to join….
Can Carotid Bulb Plaque Assessment Rule Out Significant Coronary Artery Disease? A Comparison of Plaque Quantification by Two- and Three-Dimensional Ultrasound
Background Screening tools for the detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) are of considerable interest in light of skyrocketing risk factors. Recent work suggests that carotid plaque has a relatively…
Transesophageal Echocardiography in Critically Ill Acute Postoperative Infants: Comparison of AcuNav Intracardiac Echocardiographic and microTEE Miniaturized Transducers
I commend the work of Ferns et al. comparing the AcuNav intracardiac echocardiographic (ICE) (Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Mountain View, CA) and microTEE (Philips Medical Systems, Andover, MA) miniaturized transducers….
Transthoracic Doppler Echocardiography for Detection of Stenoses in the Left Coronary Artery by Use of Poststenotic Coronary Flow Profiles: A Comparison with Quantitative Coronary Angiography and Coronary Flow Reserve
Background The aim of this study was to determine whether poststenotic diastolic-to-systolic velocity ratio (DSVR) assessed by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography could accurately identify significant stenoses in the left coronary artery….
Short-Term Effects of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation on Left Atrial Mechanics and Left Ventricular Diastolic Function
Background Aortic stenosis (AS) leads to remodeling of the left heart. Strain measurements enable the assessment of left atrial (LA) mechanics. The goal of this study was to evaluate the…
Predictors of Ischemia in Patients Referred for Evaluation of Exertional Dyspnea: A Stress Echocardiography Study
Background There are conflicting data on the incidence of ischemia by stress echocardiography in patients referred for dyspnea without accompanying chest pain. Methods A total of 311 consecutive patients with…
