Center director for cardiology research, Kristina Hermann Haugaa, MD, PhD talked about arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia under the session for Assessment of morphology and function, which took place 8th of December. Her talk covered the criteria for diagnosing right ventricular dysplasia, as well as the various aspects of the genetics and pathophysiology of arrhythmia. This session discussed four important topics in relation to right ventricular function.

Haugaa also co-chaired the "Young Investigator Award session - Basic Science" Prize as well as the session titeld "The walking dead; role of imaging after Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD)".

Alessia Quattrone presented an abstract about her study on the outcome of pregnancy in patients with coarctation of the aorta. Coarctation of the aorta (CoA) is synonyms with narrowing of the aorta, often causing the left ventricle to work harder in order to force enough blood through the aorta by generating a higher pressure than normal. Sometimes, when the narrowing is very severe, the left ventricle isn’t strong enough to push blood through the aorta, resulting in lack of blood to the lower half of the body. The study concluded that pregnancy is well tolerated in women with operated or native CoA. However, the significantly higher number of premature births and cesarean sections, and the higher incidence of preeclampsia in CoA patients compared to healthy controls, indicate that a close follow up of CoA patients during pregnancy is important.

On december 7th, Øyvind Lie presented the abstract "How many are too many – frequent premature ventricular contractions and impaired myocardial function". The abstract was selected to the EuroEcho 2016 Highlight session presented on the final day of the congress by Professor Erwan Donal, Rennes, France. Center PhD-fellow Lars Andreas Dejgaard presented his poster titled "Long term vigorous exercise is well tolerated in Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy." on Thursday 8th of December.

During the conference Professor Smiseth was awarded with EACVI Honorary Membership in recognition of his outstanding contribution in the field of Cardiovascular Imaging. Prof Smiseth is one of the world's leading experts on diastolic function and has co-chaired the new official guideline article on diastolic function published by the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) and American Society of Echocardiography (ASE). Smiseth had two talks during the conference, one about how to define response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) and the role of imaging, and the other on the topic of novel tools for the evaluation of left ventricular dyssynchrony.

Mette-Elise Estensen, MD, PhD presented the abstract titled "Reduced left ventricular function in long term follow-up in women with previous severe preeclampsia". The study concluded that women with previous severe preeclampsia have reduced ventricular systolic and diastolic function and increased LV mass compared to healthy controls. Women with pPE need clinical follow-up with CVD risk assessment aiming to reduce risk of future cardiovascular events. Visiting researcher at the Center, Anna Isotta Castrini, presented her abstract titled "Pregnancy is well tolerated in women with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy".

Contributions from the CCI include the following abstracts

Dejgaard LA, Haland TF, Lie OH, Ribe M, Leren IS, Edvardsen T, Haugaa KH
Long term vigorous exercise is well tolerated in Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Karlsen S, Dahlslett T, Grenne B, Sjøli B, Smiseth OA, Edvardsen T, Brunvand H
Exercise induced changes in global longitudinal strain in patients with chest pain and normal troponin-t may identify and rule out coronary artery disease.

Lie OH, Saberniak J, Dejgaard LA, Anfinsen OG, Hegbom F, Edvardsen T, Haugaa KH
How many are too many - Frequent premature ventricular contractions and left ventricular function.

Nestaas E, Sarvari S, Hopp E, Gjesdal O, Smedsrud MK, Haugaa KH, Edvardsen T
The timing of the post systolic shortening in prediction of scarred myocardium.

Nestaas E, Stoylen A, Fugelseth D
Right ventricle deformation indices discriminate better than left ventricle deformation indices and fractional shortening between healthy and hypothermia treated asphyxiated neonates.

Nguyen TM, Melichova D,  Grenne B, Sjøli B, Smiseth OA, Haugaa KH, Edvardsen T, Brunvand H
Assessment of Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction, Global Longitudinal Strain and Mechanical Dispersion in Acute Myocardial Infarction after Revascularization with Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Groenningsaeter L, Langesaeter E, Estensen ME
Reduced left ventricular function in long term follow-up in women with previous severe preeclampsia.

Quattrone A, Skeide A, Lindberg H, Letting AS, Langsaeter E, Estensen ME
Outcome of pregnancy in patients with coarctation of aorta.

Castrini AI, Leren IS, Estensen ME, Klaeboe LG, Edvardsen T, Haugaa KH
Pregnancy is well tolerated in women with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.

Aalen J, Andersen OS, Gude E, Andreassen AK, Aalen OO, Larsen CK, Remme EW, Smiseth OA
Early diastolic mitral flow velocity/annular velocity ratio is a sensitive marker of elevated filling pressure in left ventricular dyssynchrony

Andersen OS, Gude E, Andreassen AK, Broch K, Skulstad H, Smiseth OA, Remme EW
Incremental value of strain imaging in classification of heart failure with normal ejection fraction

Contributions from the CCI include the following talks

Kristina Haugaa: Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia

Otto Smiseth: How to define response to CRT; role of imaging

Otto Smiseth: Novel tools to evaluate left ventricular dyssynchrony

Thor Edvardsen: Multimodality imaging for stratifying prognosis of sudden cardiac death - In ischaemic cardiomyopathy

Contributions from the CCI include the following chair duties

Young Investigator Award session - Basic Science
Kristina Haugaa

The walking dead: role of imaging after Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD)
Kristina Haugaa

Diastology in health and disease - Rapid Fire Abstract
Otto Smiseth, panel of experts

Advanced echo techniques I: cardiac mechanics
General principles of imaging - Teaching Course
Thor Edvardsen

Challenges in cardiac oncology
Systemic diseases and other conditions
Thor Edvardsen

The research in imaging in the world
Thor Edvardsen