The role of echocardiography in a coronary care unit.

The purpose of the study was to assess the clinical value of echocardiography in a coronary care unit. 133 patients admitted for an acute cardiovascular disorder were examined by a mobile echocardiograph. 83 patients had an acute myocardial infarction, 8 extracardiac chest pain, 6 unstable angina pectoris, 6 acute pulmonary embolism and 16 other acute cardiovascular diseases. 14 patients were excluded from the study because of poor image quality. Echocardiography was found most advantageous in solving the following clinical problems: 1) early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (probably the earliest of all available methods); 2) immediate and precise diagnosis of complications in myocardial infarction; 3) differential diagnosis of chest pain; 4) detection of left ventricular thrombi (the most useful method for this purpose); 5) differential diagnosis of other acute cardiovascular diseases (pulmonary embolism, aortic root dissection etc.).