CME/MOC Information: 6.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM.

Activity Expiration Date:  April 1st, 2025 - CME/MOC must be claimed by this date

This educational program provides key information for both novice and experienced users of ultrasound enhancing agents. The program is intended to promote the adoption and appropriate use of contrast in echocardiography. The content of the lectures has been carefully selected by top experts in the field to provide valuable information regarding the contrast agents available, the methods used to detect them, policies and procedures necessary for integration of contrast echocardiography, appropriate indications for contrast using case-based approaches, and advanced uses such as perfusion imaging. The duration of each of the lecture (20-25 min) has been intentionally designed to provide key information in a succinct fashion. This course is applicable to daily clinical echocardiography practice and includes valuable information for sonographers, physicians and administrators.

Ultrasound contrast agents, also known as ultrasound enhancing agents, are composed of acoustically active microbubbles. These agents undergo cavitation in an acoustic field, thereby producing strong ultrasound signals that can be detected by unique contrast-specific imaging algorithms available on most ultrasound systems. Ultrasound contrast agents are used to enhance the blood pool, thereby improving patient care by: (1) improving accuracy for left ventricular (LV) volume and function assessment, (2) improving accuracy for detecting regional wall motion at rest and during stress, (3) increasing the ability to detect and characterize thrombi and other masses, and (4) improving accuracy for conditions that influence LV geometry (pseudoaneurysm, non-compaction cardiomyopathy, apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy).  

Activities Included:

• The Contrast Basics: Contrast Agents and the Ultrasound Approaches to Detecting Them
• The Sonographers Checklist for Successful Adoption of Contrast in the Echo Lab
• LVO At Rest – What You Don’t See Can Hurt You
• The Impact of Contrast for Assessment of CAD
• Policies, Practice, and Training for Contrast Echocardiography
• Future of Contrast: Perfusion Imaging, Molecular Imaging, Therapy
• Evaluation

Authors: Jonathan R. Lindner, MD, FASE; Sharon L. Mulvagh, MD, FASE, FRCP(C); Thomas R. Porter, MD, FASE; Rajesh Janardhanan, MD, MRCP, FACC, FASE; Howard Leong-Poi, MD, FASE; Margaret M. Park, BS, ACS, RDCS, RVT, FASE, FSDMS; G. Monet Strachan, ACS, RDCS, FASE. 

Accreditation Statement:

The American Society of Echocardiography is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The American Society of Echocardiography designates this activity for a maximum of 6.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program, the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) MOC program, and/or the American Board of Anesthesiology’s (ABA) Maintenance of Certification in Anesthesiology Program® or MOCA 2.0®. It is ASE’s responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABIM and ABP MOC points and/or ABA MOCA 2.0®.   Physicians will earn MOC and/or MOCA 2.0 points equivalent to the amount of CME credits claimed for the activity.

ARDMS and CCI recognize ASE’s certificates and have agreed to honor the CME credit hours toward their registry requirements for sonographers.

Activity Expiration Date:  April 1st, 2025 - CME/MOC must be claimed by this date

Disclosures: 

ASE is committed to ensuring that its educational mission, and all accredited continuing educational programs provide a protected space to learn, teach, and engage in scientific discourse free from influence from organizations that may have an incentive to insert commercial bias into education.

While a monetary or professional affiliation with an ineligible company does not necessarily influence a speaker’s presentation, the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education and policies of the ACCME require that all financial relationships with ineligible companies* be identified and mitigated prior to engaging in an accredited CE activity. In accordance with these policies, ASE actively identified relevant financial relationships between faculty in control of this accredited CE activity and ineligible companies and implemented mitigation strategies to eliminate any potential influence from persons or organizations that may have an incentive to insert commercial bias in this activity. (*Companies that are ineligible to be accredited in the ACCME System (“ineligible companies”) are those whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, reselling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.)

The following speakers have disclosed the following financial relationships with ineligible companies: Jonathan R. Lindner, MD, FASE - Investigator-initiated Grants from GE Healthcare, Lantheus, Pfizer, and Bracco; Sharon L. Mulvagh, MD, FASE, FRCP(C) - GE Healthcare (Research Grants), Lantheus Medical Imaging (Consulting), Bracco Diagnostics (Consulting); Thomas R. Porter, MD, FASE - Bracco Diagnostics (Speakers Bureau), Philips Healthcare (Equipment Support); Howard Leong-Poi, MD, FASE - Lantheus Medical Imaging (Speakers Bureau), Bracco (Clinical Trials); Margaret Park, BS, ACS, RDCS, RVT, FASE - Lantheus Medical Imaging (Speakers Bureau), Lantheus Medical Imaging (Speakers Bureau Advisory Board), Previous faculty and speaker for Northwest Imaging Forums (Sponsored by Bracco); Rajesh Janardhanan, MD, MRCP, FACC, FASE - Lantheus Medial Imaging (Speakers Bureau); G. Monet Strachan, ACS, RDCS, FASE - Lantheus (Speakers Bureau).

All remaining faculty have no financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Commercial Support: This program was made possible by the funding of an unrestricted educational grant from GE Healthcare, Pharmaceutical Diagnostics.

• Contact:
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