Authors

• Jadranka Separovic Hanzevacki — Working Group on Echocardiography and Cardiac Imaging Modalities of the Croatian Cardiac Society Chairpersons, CroEcho 2015 — ORCID: 0000-0002-3437-6407
• Viktor Persic — Working Group on Echocardiography and Cardiac Imaging Modalities of the Croatian Cardiac Society Chairpersons, CroEcho 2015 — ORCID: 0000-0003-4473-5431

DOI

Full Text

It is our pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the organizational and scientific board at the 8th CroEcho, the professional, educational and scientific echocardiographic meeting organized by the Working Group on Echocardiography and Cardiac Imaging Modalities of the Croatian Cardiac Society. Apart for being the biggest echocardiographic gathering in the region, our meetings are aimed at boosting the level of professional excellence of clinical cardiologist, echocardiographers and imaging cardiologists in accurate and fast making of cardiology diagnoses and efficient medical treatment. Our goal is to provide an education according to the principles of the European and world standards in the field of basic echocardiography and advanced echocardiographic methods. The proof of the quality of the course and of the entire meeting is the endorsement by the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI) Educational Board, which took the meeting under its auspices. Two years have passed from the previous CroEcho 2013 congress in Dubrovnik and, in the meantime, our integral approach to all imaging modalities in cardiology has been verified in practice. Also, some new insights into echocardiography and cardiac imaging have become available, which serves as a perfect opportunity for us to meet again this year. An important part of our program is again dedicated to the basic echocardiography course intended for cardiologists, future cardiologists and to all those who would like to master the basics of echocardiography as well as for experts who would like to improve their knowledge. The course is divided into several streams with lectures in basic echocardiography, imaging workshops and case studies from the clinical practice. The colleagues who would like to acquire some new knowledge can participate in the advanced workshops for learning and mastering the latest technologies, such as 3 D and 4 D echocardiography, myocardial deformation in the clinical practice and the workshop for selecting and monitoring CRT patients with a special emphasis being put on the optimization of devices. The plenary part of the congress is comprised of expert gatherings on various topics and panel discussions on important and always relevant topics of clinical issues and disputes relating to the diseases of heart valves, heart muscle and pericardium, hemodynamics and many other topics. We have again set aside a part of our program for the elaboration of some interesting cases from the everyday clinical practice. The scientific part of the program enables you to get an insight into the scientific achievements of echocardiographic and other imaging laboratories of Croatia and other countries represented at the congress. The abstracts from the CroEcho 2015 congress have been published in this edition of the Cardiologia Croatica journal, giving us a glimpse into the scientific and professional work of the CroEcho 2015 participants in their echocardiographic laboratories. CroEcho 2015 is also an opportunity for the annual meeting of the Working Group on Echocardiography and Cardiac Imaging Modalities of the Croatian Cardiac Society. The national accreditation in echocardiography, the new prices for diagnostic procedures in cardiology, the recognition of the new echocardiographic methods as well as the need to take a prudential approach in forwarding patients to these procedures are the topics of interest for all members of the Working Group. We look forward to your visit to Opatija!