I must confess, BSEcho 2019 had been such a triumph that, even as we said our goodbyes, I was already looking forward to BSEcho 2020. It would be my last as President of the Society and, maybe selfishly, I was looking forward to celebrating our achievements with you all, as well as raising a glass to Claire as she took over the presidency. As is usual for such a big event, the Education Committee and the office team had been working hard from the beginning of the year getting everything in place. Speakers had been invited, including those from overseas, rooms were booked and we were down to some of the finer details.
Then COVID-19 hit us like a train and all our plans went out of the window! Overnight we had to make significant decisions to guard against the uncertainty. We were determined to ensure we could still deliver the high quality education our members expect from the Society, as well as the vital networking with peers and our industry partners, whilst keeping everyone safe and not increasing pressures within the NHS. I would like to thank the Education co-chairs, Dan Augustine and Shaun Robinson for turning the programme around so quickly and Hatty, Jo and Ella in the office for identifying a solution that enables us to offer a virtual BSEcho, with a full conference experience.
The full programme can be found here and there is a huge amount to look forward to, both within the live sessions and the additional tracks. This year, I am particularly looking forward to the aortic valve session, and not just because I am speaking in it!
Pre COVID-19 the area of valvular heart disease has always been an area promoting differences in opinion in relation to surveillance and follow up of valve disease. This debate has been further exacerbated during the pandemic with many aspects of elective surveillance for valvular heart disease being reviewed further. With some recent publications attempting to align a consensus of when, where and who should be involved in the valve surveillance team, I expect this session to be very popular with all delegates.
| Time |
Talk |
Speaker |
| 6.25 pm |
Welcome |
|
| 6.30 pm |
Stress echo in aortic stenosis |
Benoy Shah |
| 6.50 pm |
Emerging concepts in the assessment of aortic stenosis |
Shaun Robinson |
| 7.10 pm |
Scientist/physiologist-led valve clinics: A new model |
Keith Pearce |
| 7.30 pm |
Echo assessment post-TAVI |
Laura Dobson |
| 7.50 pm |
Mechanisms and assessment of aortic regurgitation |
Nav Masani |
| 8.10 pm |
Question and answer session |
If you haven’t already, please take the time to go through the programme and pick your highlights. We genuinely hope there is something for everyone here. We have made it as accessible as possible and all content will be available to registered delegates over the two week period. Whilst we can’t physically be together, there will be the chance to network and, as someone wisely said on Twitter, at least this way, you don’t have to share with a colleague who snores!
View the full programme