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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Echocardiographic Assessment Using Subxiphoid-Only Examination for Hypotensive Patients
Published on: April 18, 2025
Hand-carried echocardiography in heart failure and heart failure risk population: a community based prospective study
Magdalena Lipczyńska1, Piotr Szymański, Anna Klisiewicz
1Department of Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland. mlipczynska@ikard.pl
Background:
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.
Methods:
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.
Results:
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.
Conclusions:
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.
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