Dear friends and CMR enthusiasts from all over the world,
Only 5 more months and we will celebrate our 20th anniversary in Washington DC.! I am sure that many of you have submitted abstracts on your recent scientific work and I am keen to learn more about the new results. SCMR is all about driving the newest ideas in CMR, and of course showing the way to provide straight-forward, easy to use, CMR. It is also our responsibility to convince patients and referring doctors, that CMR has not only a place in guidelines, but also that CMR is the best choice in many situations. Utilizing CMR instead of other non-invasive imaging techniques means that one will get more definitive, relevant, and actionable answers because a CMR exam provides comprehensive information and has superior diagnostic and prognostic power, without the need for radiation. Furthermore, there are CMR-only capabilities including virtual heart biopsy, high-resolution perfusion imaging, and advanced blood flow analysis. These two sentences are intended to be used by all of us as a simple wording to spread our message. They are one result of our recent and very productive mid-year board-meeting that also included a revision of the SCMR Mission and Vision statements.
I know that many SCMR members are also involved in research and I can only encourage all of you to look into the huge potential that CMR offers to gain a better understanding of diseases and to help develop methods of prevention. One major effort led by two past SCMR presidents, Christopher Kramer and Stefan Neubauer, is the HCMR-Trial: “Novel Predictors of Prognosis in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy “. Many well-known SCMR members are participating – 41 sites are active worldwide.
I am proud to cite from the HCMR newsletter: “As of August 17th, 2096 patients were enrolled, 71.7% of full enrollment. We are committed to full recruitment of 2750 patients as soon as possible. The end of the recruitment phase is in sight.” – The aim is to complete enrollment in 2016. The first follow-ups have been done – once completed we expect to significantly increase our understanding of patient risk.
So, we as SCMR members are playing a major role in this effort and every patient more is a win. If you have a recruiting site close to you – please do your best to help.
Dear SCMR-member, believe me, there is a lot of work behind the scenes that goes into accomplishing our goals as a Society, and I am always impressed by the number of active volunteers all over the world helping to push our field and the SCMR forward.
Please don´t hesitate to contact me, if you have the feeling that I could help.
All the best,
Jeanette
