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BACKGROUND

Heart diseases can cause changes to vascular ultrasonography (VUS) waveforms in peripheral vessels. These changes are typically bilateral and systemic, they have been little studied, and little is known about them.

OBJECTIVE

To assess peripheral VUS waveforms in elderly patients in order to identify changes caused by heart diseases.

METHODS

During 2014, a total of 183 elderly patients were examined with peripheral VUS and the results were analyzed.

RESULTS

The sample comprised 102 women (55.7%) and 81 men (44.3%) with ages ranging from 60 to 91 years (mean of 70.4±7.2 years). Abnormalities were identified in VUS waveforms in 84 patients (45.9%). A total of 138 abnormalities were identified and classified into eight of the 13 categories described in the literature, as follows: arrhythmia, systolic pulsus bisferiens, low peak systolic velocity, pulsatile flow in femoral veins, bradycardia, tachycardia, pulsus tardus et parvus and pulsus alternans. There was low agreement between presence/absence of VUS abnormalities and cardiological assessments. Analysis of specific abnormalities revealed variable levels of agreement between VUS and cardiological assessments, ranging from good for tachycardia, moderate for arrhythmia, to low for bradycardia. There was no agreement between VUS and cardiological examinations for the remaining categories of abnormalities.

CONCLUSIONS

Certain cardiac abnormalities can be identified in elderly patients by analysis of peripheral VUS waveforms. It is important to recognize and report the presence of these abnormalities because there is a possibility that they may serve to signal hitherto unidentified diagnoses in these patients. However, further studies are needed to determine the importance of changes to peripheral Doppler waveforms to recognition of heart diseases.