Mastering Advanced Echocardiography

11 weeksCardiology12 CPD hours

This veterinary thought exchange online tutored course is aimed at veterinarians in practice who are confident in their basic echocardiography skills and are ready to move to the next level, or perhaps are practicing advanced echo already but would like to refine their knowledge.

This course follows on from the basic echocardiography course. It covers optimisation of more advanced techniques such as spectral Doppler and tissue Doppler. These techniques are discussed in conjunction with echocardiographic assessment of congenital and acquired heart disease in cats and dogs. It will provide you with all of the theory that you need, to acquire and interpret the right and left-sided views. You will be far more confident in interpreting your images by the end of this course, which facilitates your clinical practice and decision making. It will cover more advanced knowledge such as diastolic dysfunction, filling pressures and so on,

The course is run by Liz Bode and Sid Sudunangunta (EBVS and RCVS Recognised Specialist in Small Animal Cardiology). It runs over an eleven-week period and takes around 12 hours to complete. The course is delivered via video webinars and supplemented with a real-time discussion forum, giving you the opportunity to ask questions or discuss cases you may be facing in your practice.

(Access to this course is for 12 months from the start of the course going live on our website. The discussion forum will be monitored for the course duration only).

Course Content

Lesson 1: How to drive your machine! (Liz Bode) Available on 17/11/2025 8:00 am 17/11/2025
learning outcomes
  • Understand the basics of ultrasound
  • Describe what each function on your machine does and how to change the function to optimise your images
Lesson 2: It’s all about Doppler (Liz Bode) Available on 24/11/2025 8:00 am 24/11/2025
learning outcomes
  • Describe what we mean by spectral and colour flow Doppler
  • Review how to optimise your Doppler images
  • Be able to describe pressure gradient calculation relative to specific disease processes
Lesson 3: Standard views, left and right (Liz Bode) Available on 01/12/2025 8:00 am 01/12/2025
learning outcomes
  • Describe the standard left and right views
  • List the things that we can see and evaluate in each view
  • Understand how to acquire each image
Lesson 4: Standard measurements, what to use and what do they mean? (Liz Bode) Available on 08/12/2025 8:00 am 08/12/2025
learning outcomes
  • List the standard measurements of the left and right sided views
  • Describe what each measurement is for, and the information gathered
Lesson 5: Echo of acquired heart disease in the cat: Part 1 (Sid Sudunangunta) Available on 15/12/2025 8:00 am 15/12/2025
learning outcomes
  • Describe the different diseases of cats and their echocardiographic appearance
  • Understand what diastolic function is and how it is evaluated via echocardiography
Lesson 6: Echo of acquired heart disease in the cat: Part 2 (Sid Sudunangunta) Available on 22/12/2025 8:00 am 22/12/2025
learning outcomes
  • Describe the different diseases of cats and their echocardiographic appearance
  • Understand what diastolic function is and how it is evaluated via echocardiography
Lesson 7: Echo of acquired heart disease in the dog: Part 1 (Sid Sudunangunta) Available on 29/12/2025 8:00 am 29/12/2025
learning outcomes
  • Describe the echocardiographic features of MMVD and DCM
  • List the changes associated with these diseases and how we evaluate them
Lesson 8: Echo of acquired heart disease in the dog, the weird and wonderful: Part 2 (Sid Sudunangunta) Available on 05/01/2026 8:00 am 05/01/2026
learning outcomes
  • Describe the echocardiographic features of pericardial effusion, endocarditis and pulmonary hypertension
  • Understand how we measure and evaluate these conditions
Lesson 9: Echo of congenital disease in dogs and cats: Part 1 (Sid Sudunangunta) Available on 12/01/2026 8:00 am 12/01/2026
learning outcomes
  • Describe the most common congenital conditions and their echocardiographic appearance
  • Understand how to evaluate the severity of disease and when surgical intervention is indicated
Lesson 10: Echo of congenital disease in dogs and cats: Part 2 (Sid Sudunangunta) Available on 19/01/2026 8:00 am 19/01/2026
learning outcomes
  • Describe the most common congenital conditions and their echocardiographic appearance
  • Understand how to evaluate the severity of disease and when surgical intervention is indicated
Lesson 11: Case based round-up (Liz Bode) Available on 26/01/2026 8:00 am 26/01/2026
learning outcomes
  • Become confident is using echocardiography to evaluate acquired and congenital cardiac disease

Meet the speakers

Liz Bode

Director, Cardiology Specialist

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Liz graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2006. She started her veterinary career in mixed practice in the East Ridings of Yorkshire, UK. However, she soon realised that she wanted to pursue a Specialist career. In 2008, Liz joined the University of Cambridge to undertake a rotating internship and then moved to the University of Manchester in 2009 to start a PhD. Her PhD focused on pathophysiology of heart failure and ageing, and was undertaken in the medical department. She gained her thesis in 2013 before starting a residency at the University of Edinburgh (where she met Scott and Andy). In 2016 Liz joined the University of Liverpool as a lecturer and subsequently senior lecturer. She was awarded her Diploma in 2017 and became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2019.   In 2020 she took the leap into private practice and joined Chestergates Veterinary Specialists based in Chester, UK. She also had her first child that same year (it was very busy!). She has been at Chestergates ever since, and has been  promoted to Clinical Director and now Senior Clinical Director. She was awarded FRCVS for her Meritorious Contributions to Clinical Practice in 2022.

Sid Sudunagunta

Cardiology Specialist

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Sid graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2011 and spent a few years working in general practice before pursuing Cardiology. Sid joined The University of Liverpool in 2016, first as a cardiology intern, then a resident, completing his residency in 2020. During this time, he completed the Certificate of Advanced Veterinary Practice in Cardiology. In March 2021, he passed his European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine certifying examinations in Cardiology to achieve Diplomate status. Sid is particularly interested in minimally-invasive interventional radiology procedures for managing and treating congenital and acquired cardiac diseases. He is also interested in teaching, and in April 2020, he successfully submitted a portfolio to achieve the Associate of the Higher Education Authority qualification. Sid’s research interests include canine pulmonary hypertension and congenital heart disease.

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