The British Society of Echocardiography – a legacy of leadership

Echo Research and Practice continues the 23-year evolution of the British Society of Echocardiography (BSE). Founded in the summer of 1990, the society has led the development of echocardiography to the point where it is one of the foundation stones of modern cardiovascular practice in the UK (www.bsecho.org/the-society/society-info/). For over 15 years, the society has run a programme of individual accreditation, which is recognised all over the world as a benchmark of competence; for 10 years the society has been accrediting departments against rigorous quality standards, and most recently, has extended accreditation out of the echo department and into the wider hospital, with accreditation in intensive care echo. Throughout this period, the society has run a portfolio of highly successful learning opportunities and an in-house publication, ECHO, which is regularly read by our 3000 society members. Much that the BSE has achieved has been influential on the international stage, as have many senior members of the society. Drawing on its history, the society has chosen this moment to launch a new educational/intellectual venture , Echo Research and Practice, an inclusive broad-ranging journal aimed at those who use echocardiography in their every day practice. As the world of echo is changing so fast and in so many ways, there needs to be a significant volume of high-quality research to underpin the evolving practice. Technological developments have already placed an echo machine in the palm of the examiner's hand. Miniaturisation will simply increase the unstoppable trend towards ultrasound of the heart being used at the point of care. Already, evidence has shown that novice ultrasonographers can be rapidly trained to the level where they can correctly interpret scans with an acceptable frequency, but more importantly they can come to a more accurate clinical diagnosis rather than using clinical skills alone (1). A high-quality protocol-led practice in handheld ultrasound could have a major impact on the accuracy and timeliness of patient care. But this practice cannot occur without significant evaluation of technologies, of models of practice and of the ultimate clinical outcome. Similarly, new indications are continually developing that the whole science of cardio-oncology, virtually unheard of before the widespread use of trastuzumab, is critically dependent on echocardiogra-phy and, increasingly, the new technological innovations such as the two-dimensional strain (2). The use of echocardiography during cardiac anaesthesia is very well established, but increasingly it is a vital tool for both diagnosis and monitoring …