Echo Report 2007

The Conrad Hotel in Dublin was the venue for the 4th Irish Cardiac Echo and Imaging Group (I.C.E.) meeting.  This meeting has grown from strength to strength over the past few years to become the most important scientific gathering in echocardiography in Ireland, attracting participants from both north and south as well as speakers from round the world. This meeting has proved to be the most successful so far with over one hundred and twenty delegates attending.  A mixture of national and international speakers educated and entertained the enthusiastic audience who arrived early on a Saturday morning for a feast of echocardiography.

Dr. David Moore and Dr. Angie Brown discussed the assessment of native cardiac valvular architecture and function in health and disease.  Advances in cardiac ultrasound imaging have provided the opportunity for several groups of investigators worldwide to explore the applications of novel techniques in various pathologies to prove their clinical usefulness.  Dr. Emily Ho was one of those investigators and she provided the background necessary to understand and successfully utilise these methodologies in a beautiful illustrated lecture entitled 'Tools for the next decade'.

We were honoured to have Dr. John Chambers a Consultant Cardiologist from Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital London, enlighten us with a classic lecture of how to assess prosthetic cardiac valves.  Dr. Chambers has written many books on the subject of echocardiography and is a past president of the British society of Echocardiography.

Mr. Olaf Wendler Director of Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery Kings College Hospital, London provided a surgeon's perspective on Aortic and mitral valve repair.  His presentation provided a host of questions from our own cardiac surgeons who were in attendance.
 

Dr. Ross Murphy’s lecture on CT and CMR was both enlightening and useful.  The rapid development of CMR techniques in cardiology makes the dissemination of the expertise in clinical practice a complex problem.  It is likely that major cardiology institutions, with an interest in research, will want to consider the purchase of a dedicated CMR scanner, the potential of this technology was clearly shown and perfectly illustrated by Dr. Murphy.

Chairing these sessions was a prodigious and important role and again we had dedicated experts to help with this task. The participants that chaired the sessions were Dr. Pat Nash, Dr. Pauline Diamond, Ms Sinead O'Neil, Dr. Jim O Neill, Dr. Gerard King, Dr. Martin Quinn, Mr Mike Tolan and Mr. Freddie Woods.

The day culminated in case presentations that were assessed by four Judges.  The winner was Dr. Robert Byrne with his presentation 'cardiac consequences of castration'; it won the worthy prize of full sponsorship To EuroEcho in Lisbon. 

Finally Dr. Gerard King led a small interactive session during the Judges deliberations.  This interactive session tested the audience’s knowledge of diastole, equine cardiology and foreign bodies within the heart and thoracic cavity.  This session provided the necessary sorbet, which contrasted against the richness of the didactic sessions.

A major part of the organisation for this highly successful meeting emanated from our (ICE) President Dr. Brown who is well known for her commitment and enthusiasm to further education in echo.

Special thanks however should go to Pfizer Healthcare Ltd who provided the sponsorship and back up staff who contributed significantly to the overall success of the meeting.

21 May 2007.

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