Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 5, 2025
Echocardiographic Assessment Using Subxiphoid-Only Examination for Hypotensive Patients
Published on: April 18, 2025
Handheld Echocardiography in a Clinical Practice Scenario: Concordances Compared to Standard Echocardiographic
Gustavo Gavazzoni Blume1, Luka David Lechinewski2, Isabela Pedroza Vieira2
1Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Pontificial Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil. gustavoblume@gmail.com.
Insights
A handheld echocardiography device showed excellent agreement with standard echocardiography for assessing ventricular size and function. However, its utility for valve regurgitation assessment was limited in daily practice.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Medical Imaging
- Diagnostic Technology
Background:
- Standard echocardiography (STD) is a cornerstone in cardiac diagnostics.
- Handheld (HH) echocardiography devices offer potential for point-of-care cardiac assessments.
- Evaluating the concordance between HH and STD is crucial for clinical adoption.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the clinical utility of a handheld echocardiography device in daily practice.
- To determine the agreement between HH and standard echocardiography (STD) results.
- To compare diagnostic performance across various echocardiographic parameters.
Main Methods:
- Prospective follow-up study in an adult outpatient echocardiography clinic.
- Experienced sonographers performed STD; experienced echocardiographer performed HH.
- Image interpretation by blinded echocardiographers; analysis of report agreement.
Main Results:
- Excellent concordance (κ > 0.80) for LV ejection fraction, ventricular size, and function.
- Good concordance (κ = 0.78) for wall motion abnormalities.
- Moderate agreement for hypertrophy and aortic/mitral regurgitation; low agreement for tricuspid/pulmonary regurgitation.
Conclusions:
- Handheld echocardiography demonstrates good correlation for ventricular assessment and stenosis evaluation in experienced hands.
- The device shows limitations in assessing valve regurgitation compared to standard echocardiography.
- HH devices show promise for specific cardiac assessments in daily clinical practice.
Background:
The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of a handheld device (HH) used during common daily practice and its agreement with the results of a standard echocardiography study (STD) performed by experienced sonographers and echocardiographer.
Methods:
A prospective follow-up was conducted in an adult outpatient echocardiography clinic. Experienced sonographers performed the STD and an experienced echocardiographer performed the HH. STD included 2-dimensional images, Doppler and hemodynamics analysis. Hemodynamic assessment was not performed with the HH device because the HH does not include such technology. The images were interpreted by blinded echocardiographers, and the agreement between the reports was analyzed.
Results:
A total of 108 patients were included; and the concordance for left ventricle (LV) ejection fraction (EF), wall motion score index, LV and right ventricle (RV) function, RV size, and mitral and aortic stenosis was excellent with κ values greater than 0.80. Wall motion abnormalities had good concordance (κ value 0.78). The agreement for LV hypertrophy, mitral and aortic regurgitation was moderate, and tricuspid and pulmonary regurgitation agreements were low (κ values of 0.26 and 0.25, respectively).
Conclusions:
In a daily practice scenario with experienced hands, HH demonstrated good correlation for most echocardiography indications, such as ventricular size and function assessment and stenosis valve lesion analyses.
More Related Videos
06:34Evaluation of Left Ventricular Structure and Function using 3D Echocardiography
Published on: October 28, 2020
11:50High-frequency High-resolution Echocardiography: First Evidence on Non-invasive Repeated Measure of Myocardial Strain, Contractility, and Mitral Regurgitation in the Ischemia-reperfused Murine Heart
Published on: July 9, 2010
Related Concept Videos
01:17Imaging Studies for Cardiovascular System I:Echocardiography
Indications: Echocardiography is utilized to diagnose heart failure, valve disorders, and myocardial infarction. It also assesses cardiac structures' size, shape, and motion,...
01:20Imaging Studies for Cardiovascular System II:Types of Echocardiography
Types of Echocardiography
Transthoracic Echocardiography (TTE)
TTE is the most common type of echocardiogram which involves placing a transducer on the patient's chest, emitting sound waves to create heart images. TTE is invaluable for evaluating the heart's size, structure, and motion, making it particularly useful for...
01:22Rheumatic Heart Disease II: Clinical Manifestations and Diagnostic Studies