Cardiology Tasmania

It was a pleasure to co-host the inaugural SonoTas (2023) conference with Dr Greg Hasking in Launceston. Cardiologists from the north and south donated their time and expertise in cardiac imaging to improve the skills of our states cardiac sonographers and cardiology registrars. A bigger conference in the states capital is on the agenda for next year and will be open to registrants from interstate

'Heart-warming' conference comes to Launceston Heart specialists from across the state gathered in Launceston last Saturday.

Honoured to be invited to speak at the World Congress of Echocardiography 2022, which was held in Australia for the first time this weekend. Big shout out to the organising committee for a fantastic conference!

I am proud to have facilitated Hobart's inaugural Patient and Carers Amyloid workshop, an initiative of the Australian Amyloid Network.

A big thanks to Dr Anna Johnston, Dr Geoff Kirkland, Dr Sergio Farina, the RHH cardiac research nurses, the Myeloma Australia nurses, and of course the patients!

Lots of very important information for this increasingly recognised problem

Sub-clinial bioprosthetic valve thrombosis (BVT)

The incidence of BVT is ~1.4-6.0% depending on the cohort. Although the median time for BVT is ~1-2 years cases have been reported as late as 10 years.

From an echo perspective there are three simple criteria (if ALL are present there is a 90% specificity for the diagnosis):
- Increase in mean gradient (>50% from baseline)
- Restricted cusp mobility
- Thickened cusp (>2 mm)

Treatment is with anticoagulation (warfarin), and the valve is usually re-imaged at i-12 weeks to ensure resolution / improvement.