title: Diagnostic utility of echocardiography in Ethiopia.
abstract: Consecutive requests of 1557 echocardiographic studies performed between January 1984 and June 1988 were analysed in order to identify common cardiac abnormalities encountered, the pattern of referral and most important the usefulness of the procedure at our hospital. Organic heart disease was found in 1240 patients, of whom 541 (43.6%) had acquired valvular heart disease; 338 (27.4%) congenital heart abnormalities; 154 (12.4%) cardiomyopathies; 139 (11.2%) pericardial disease and 68 (5.4%) other cardiac abnormalities. The diagnostic yield was high 1093/1128 (96.8%) when heart disease was clinically diagnosed or strongly suspected. It confirmed stated diagnosis in 789 (70.0%) and the echocardiographic diagnosis was different from that of the referral in 304 (26.9%). In the remaining 35 (3.1%) no heart disease could be identified. The yield was low, 147/429 (34.2%) (12% of the total positives), when patients were referred to "rule out" or "exclude" heart disease. It is concluded that echocardiography is not very useful for the detection of unsuspected diseases, while on the other hand, it is a simple, relatively cheap and highly dependable tool in the assessment of known cardiac abnormalities.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Abegaz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005002:Ethiopia; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data