Department of Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland.
J Am Soc Echocardiogr. 2011 Feb;24(2):125-31. doi: 10.1016/j.echo.2010.10.010.
The basic reservation concerning the use of hand-carried echocardiographic devices by general practitioners has been a lack of data demonstrating that they would provide clinically important information on patients' outcomes.
One hundred seventy-five patients with heart failure and/or heart failure risk factors were selected from a general community outpatient clinic. They underwent simplified hand-carried echocardiography performed by an internist with basic echocardiographic experience and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide measurements. Patients were followed for the occurrence of the combined end point, consisting of death or hospitalization for cardiovascular causes.
Hand-carried echocardiographic results were abnormal in 90 patients (55%). During 48 ± 7 months of follow-up, the combined end point occurred in 41 patients (25%). On multivariate analysis, only abnormal echocardiography (hazard ratio, 5.55; 95% confidence interval, 2.04-14.28; P = .0004) was an independent predictor of outcomes.
Hand-carried echocardiographic examinations performed by an internist with basic echocardiographic training can provide important prognostic information, independent of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels.
全科医生使用手持式超声心动图设备的基本保留意见是缺乏数据表明它们将为患者的结果提供临床重要信息。
从一个普通社区门诊中选择了 175 名心力衰竭和/或心力衰竭危险因素患者。他们接受了由具有基本超声心动图经验的内科医生进行的简化手持式超声心动图检查和 N 端脑利钠肽前体测量。对患者进行随访，以发生包括心血管原因死亡或住院的联合终点事件。
90 名患者（55%）的手持式超声心动图结果异常。在 48±7 个月的随访期间，41 名患者（25%）发生了联合终点事件。多变量分析显示，只有异常的超声心动图（危险比，5.55；95%置信区间，2.04-14.28；P=0.0004）是独立的预后预测因素。
具有基本超声心动图训练的内科医生进行的手持式超声心动图检查可以提供重要的预后信息，独立于 N 端脑利钠肽前体水平。
