CC Cardiol Croat Cardiologia Croatica Cardiol. Croat. 1848-543X 1848-5448 Croatian Cardiac Society CC 2013_8_5-6_151 10.15836/ccar.2013.151 Editorial CroEcho2013: 7th Croatian Echocardiography Meeting with International Participation May 23rd — 25th, 2013 Hotel Valamar Lacroma, Dubrovnik, Croatia Separovic HanzevackiJadrankaPersicViktor Working Group on Echocardiography and Cardiac Imaging Modalities, Croatian Cardiac Society Correspondence to Jadranka Separovic Hanzevacki, Klinicki bolnicki centar Zagreb, Kispaticeva 12, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia; Phone: +385-1-2367-501; E-mail: jshanzevacki@gmail.com 052013 052013 8 5-6 151 151 Croatian Cardiac Society 2013 Croatian Cardiac Society Dear Colleagues,

It has been two years since the last CroEcho took place in 2011 in Opatija, that gathered the echocardiographic professionals of Croatia and surrounding countries, with a great number of local and foreign participants, lecturers and exhibitors, thereby continuing its position as the largest echocardiographic meeting in the region. The following two-year period brought about new understandings and technical progress in cardiology, which is inevitably followed and, to a considerable extent, supported by echocardiography.

This year’s meeting will take place in Dubrovnik presenting an exceptional opportunity for a new gathering. It is an opportunity to look back upon the recent changes in the European Echocardiographic Association, which grew into an association for all imaging modalities in cardiology: The European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI). This change reflects the growing need for rational clinical diagnostics founded upon targeted and all-encompassing usage of imaging examinations in cardiology.

Echocardiography is a fundamental and clinically oriented imaging modality and cardiologists who perform it are clinicians familiar with the clinical problem, so we can expect that cardiologists who perform echocardiography will show the most interest in an integrated and integral imaging approach in cardiology.

The largest part of the program will be dedicated to the basic and advanced educational content in echocardiography, scientific announcements and interactive imaging workshops.

The emphasis in the educational program has been put on the basic echocardiography course intended for cardiologists, cardiology residents, internal medicine specialists, pediatricians, anesthesiologists, and all those who want to learn the basics of echocardiography. The course is certified by EACVI Education Committee.

In accordance with our goal to encourage higher standards of professional excellence for cardiologists specialized in the field of echocardiography and other imaging modalities and promoting them in clinical diagnostics, research and technological advancement, the scientific part of the program offers you the possibility to show the scientific achievements of your echocardiographic and other imaging laboratories.

Accordingly we are proud and happy that the scientific contribution from both local and international authors has grown substantially. In comparison with the last meeting, the number of submitted abstracts has increased for several times, thereby making the task of the Scientific Committee even more demanding. Therefore, this year we have included two sessions of oral abstract presentations and a session dedicated to clinical case presentations in the scientific programme as well. We congratulate the authors of all accepted abstracts, many of whom have shown that the spirit of clinical research is present and alive among echocardiographers outside university hospitals. We hope that you will find ample areas of interest in the aforementioned topics.

Welcome to CroEcho2013!