Case stories that stick

It can be pretty embarrassing if you miss a pathology or an important finding. But it is even worse if you have mistaken a pathologic finding for an entire organ. When I was new to abdominal ultrasound this is what almost happened to me.

Did you ever take the time to read an old cardiology journal - maybe, one from the late 80ies – early 90ies? In a way it is amazing how much we already knew about diastolic dysfunction 30-40 years ago.

Are you familiar with the following scenario? You are imaging a patient where the EF that you calculate makes a huge difference. Will the patient be referred to surgery? Is heart failure treatment needed? Should chemotherapy be discontinued?

As Albert Einstein put it: Success comes from curiosity, concentration, perseverance and self criticism. So lets jump right into some of the things that I learned by making mistakes. This time we will deal with the topic of aortic stenosis here are the top five:

Thank god, the dark clouds of COVID-19 are slowly vanishing. Six months of being kept hostage by the pandemic are enough.  Let us sail out of the crisis towards new frontiers.

To celebrate we are initiating a teaching series, which will help you shine.

While the COVID-19 wave is moving to new territories it is time to look back to better understand our role in the pandemic. Many of us played an important role, either in keeping the numbers of infected individuals down or by spreading the disease.

No matter which colleague you talk to, in which country you live or in which medical environment you work in we currently all have the same problem:

The world of ultrasound does not stop turning and we will still need to perform US exams in our patients.

While many of us are still standing on the shore (hopefully in a save haven) waiting for the tsunami to arrive, others are already in the midst of the “warzone”.