On the morning of August 5^th, the China-USA Ultrasound Summit Dialogue was successfully held in the Department of Cardiology, the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine (ZJU4H). It generated a spirited discussion on the application of intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) in atrial fibrillation (AF). The dialogue was carried out online by Dr. XIA Shudong, the Director of the Department of Cardiology at ZJU4H, Dr. FENG Chao, the Associate Director of the Department of Cardiology at ZJU4H, and Dr. Paul Zei, a cardiac electrophysiologist and cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) at the Harvard Medical Center and the director of the Comprehensive Atrial Fibrillation Center in the USA. Hundreds of medical workers at ZJU4H coalesced to attend the meeting.

Dr. CHEN Weiying, the Associate Dean of the International School of Medicine, delivered the opening remarks. She began by briefly introducing ZJU4H. In terms of the significance of the communication with international peers, she said that “Dr. XIA and his team work diligently to improve the management of arrhythmia and ensure the efficacy and safety of atrial fibrillation procedures, through the application of ultrasound. I believe the ongoing bilateral dialogue will help our clinicians to apply knowledge gained from each other and benefit thousands of patients with atrial fibrillation.” Finally, she sincerely thanked everyone for their participation and presciently wished the event a complete success.

To begin the dialogue, Dr. Paul Zei gave a general introduction to ICE, including its basic principles and the sectors it works on. Meanwhile, he illustrated the application value of ICE in AF operation with real cases. Then a lively and in-depth discussion on the operative approaches of ICE and the details of AF operation was launched by Dr. Paul Zei, Dr. XIA Shudong and Dr. FENG Chao. Both sides agreed that ICE plays a significant role in AF operations, which can greatly improve the safety and efficacy of AF operations. During the session on the live case, Dr. XIA Shudong demonstrated an ablation procedure of atrial fibrillation with ICE. The patient had been suffering from recurrent palpitation for 8 years, with a worsening condition in the last two months. With the real-time video of the operation, the electrophysiologists at ZJU4H along with Dr. Paul Zei in Boston discussed the details of the operation with ICE, such as the selection of femoral vein puncture, the direction of transseptal puncture, the interpretation of ICE images, and the setting of ablation parameters, putting their heads together to design an efficacious treatment for the patient.

The rapid development of medical treatment is inseparable from international cooperation and communication. The China-USA Ultrasound Summit Dialogue has fostered the development of ICEin atrial fibrillation, improving the medical services of the “International Hub for Health” and bringing welfare to patients not just locally but globally as well.

Source：the Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine