FIT Echo Bootcamp
Presented by the Iowa and Minnesota Chapters of the American College of Cardiology
Join other Fellows in Training for an in-depth study on Echocardiographic Examinations and Emergencies. This four-part virtual series is led by Dr. Rick Marcus of the Iowa Heart Center. There is no cost to attend this educational series.
Mondays & Wednesdays on Zoom
July 10, 12, 17 & 18
Presenter
Richard H. Marcus M.D.
Iowa Heart Center
Dr. Richard Marcus is one of the nation’s leading experts in the use of echocardiography to diagnose heart disease.

Dr. Marcus, a native of South Africa, received a medical degree from the University of Witwatersrand Medical School in Johannesburg. He then completed surgery and internal medicine internships at Johannesburg General Hospital; and senior internships in surgery and anesthesiology, and a residency in internal medicine at the Johannesburg Group of Teaching Hospitals.
After two years of military service, Dr. Marcus completed a cardiology research fellowship at the University of Witwatersrand; a clinical cardiology fellowship at the Johannesburg Group of Teaching Hospitals; and a clinical/research fellowship at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
He has held numerous academic and clinical appointments and has published extensively in the areas of valvular heart disease, left ventricular function, ventricular-arterial coupling and Doppler echocardiography. He joined Iowa Heart Center in 1996.
Dr. Marcus is board certified in cardiology and echocardiography, and currently practices at Iowa Heart Center’s West University clinic in West Des Moines.
Content Areas
Session 1: Echocardiographic Examination | July 10th, 2023
- Set-up for integrated echocardiographic examination
- Essential physics of ultrasound
- Physical constraints of cardiac ultrasound imaging
- Transducer selection
- Generation of ultrasound images
- Imaging modalities
- Clinical indications
- Views/planes/modalities/structures imaged
- Choreographed 2D/M-mode echocardiographic examination
- Quantitative applications of 2D imaging
- Semi-quantitative applications of 2D imaging
- Contrast echocardiography
Session 2: Echocardiographic Examination | July 12th, 2023
- Doppler echocardiography – 4 tenets
- Doppler echocardiography – 4 flavors
- Physiologic applications of Doppler echocardiography
- Choreographed Doppler echocardiographic examination
Session 3: Echocardiographic Emergencies | July 17th, 2023
- Modes of clinical presentation
- Holistic approach
- Hypotension/shock
- Oligemic
- Septic
- Cardiogenic
- Cardiac tamponade
- Acute myocardial infarction
- Acute viral/toxic myocarditis
- Takotsubo cardiomyopathy
- Acute on chronic systolic/diastolic heart failure
Session 4: Echocardiographic Emergencies | July 19th, 2023
- Acute pulmonary edema
- ARDS
- Any cause of cardiogenic shock
- Acute severe aortic regurgitation
- Acute severe mitral regurgitation
- Acute respiratory distress
- Any cause of acute pulmonary edema
- Acute pulmonary embolism
- Acute cor pulmonale of other etiology
- Chest/Interscapular pain
- Acute myocardial infarction
- Acute pulmonary embolism
- Acute viral/toxic myocarditis
- Acute aortic dissection