Screening for XXXX using a hand-carried cardiac ultrasound device.

@entity1 @entity3876 @entity262 @entity1002
BACKGROUND: The hand-carried cardiac ultrasound (HCU) device is a recently introduced imaging device, which may be potentially useful in the primary care setting. AIM: To test the screening potential of a HCU for the detection of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction by evaluating LV ejection fraction (LVEF) and inferior vena cava (IVC) collapse. Standard echocardiographic @entity262 ( @entity262 ) and plasma @entity3876 ( @entity3876 ) measurements were used as a reference. METHODS: Eighty-eight consecutive @entity1 (56 male, aged 59+/-12 years) with suspected @entity1002 were enrolled in the study. The HCU-LVEF was visually estimated and the @entity262 -LVEF was derived by the Simpson's biplane method. A LVEF <40% represented @entity1002 . An IVC collapse of <50% and @entity3876 levels > or =15 pmol/l were considered abnormal. The correlation of HCU-LVEF, HCU-IVC and @entity3876 to the @entity262 -LVEF and @entity262 -IVC was analysed independently using 2x2 tables. RESULTS: Six @entity1 were excluded because of poor echo images. 19/82 @entity1 had @entity1002 . The HCU and @entity3876 could identify 17 and 18 out of these 19 @entity1 , respectively. The agreement for LVEF and IVC collapse between @entity262 and HCU was 96% for both parameters. The sensitivity of IVC collapse, HCU-LVEF and @entity3876 in identifying @entity1 with @entity1002 was 26, 89 and 94%, respectively. CONCLUSION: A HCU device can reliably be used as a screening tool for @entity1002 .
