Use of a programmable calculator for rapid, low-cost processing of echocardiographic records

A comparative study was performed to determine the accuracy of a programmable calculator with supplemental digitizer in echocardiographic analysis. Twenty separate measurements were collected per heart beat from five different dogs, taking five heart beats from each dog. The measurements were made by an echocardiographic technician (ET), echocomputer (EC), and by a programmable calculator (HP). In a triple comparison (ET-HP, ET-EC, HP-EC) there were no significant differences in the values obtained, suggesting that the programmable calculator can provide a highly accurate and rapid means of processing echocardiographic measurements, thereby providing the advantages of the echocomputer without the cost of such a device.