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Murine Echocardiography and Ultrasound Imaging
Published on: August 8, 2010
Should echocardiography be used to screen dizzy patients?
1Cardiology Division, University of Miami School of Medicine, Florida.
Angiology
|October 1, 1988
Summary
Echocardiography is not a useful routine screening tool for dizziness. While valvular heart disease was common, cardiac imaging provided no new management information for dizzy patients.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Neurology
- Diagnostic Imaging
Background:
- Dizziness is a common symptom with diverse etiologies.
- Echocardiography is a non-invasive cardiac imaging technique.
- The utility of echocardiography in undifferentiated dizziness is not well-established.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the diagnostic value of echocardiography in patients presenting with dizziness.
- To determine if echocardiography can identify specific cardiac causes or contribute to the management of dizziness.
Main Methods:
- A prospective study of 151 consecutive patients presenting with dizziness.
- Classification of dizziness into vertigo, nonvertiginous dizziness, or insufficient data.
- Comparison of echocardiographic findings between dizzy and non-dizzy patient groups.
- Analysis of the clinical impact of echocardiography on patient management.
Main Results:
- Of 151 patients, 129 experienced dizziness; 22 had non-dizziness related complaints.
- Statistically significant differences between groups (race, aortic root dimension) were clinically insignificant.
- High prevalence of previously undiagnosed valvular heart disease was noted.
- Echocardiography did not provide new information impacting patient management in any case.
Conclusions:
- Echocardiography is not recommended as a routine screening test for patients with dizziness.
- The test should be reserved for patients with specific cardiac indications.
- Further investigation is needed to understand the high prevalence of valvular disease in this cohort.
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