title: Usefulness of a hand-carried cardiac ultrasound device to detect clinically significant valvular regurgitation in hospitalized patients.
abstract: The accuracy of a hand-carried cardiac ultrasound (HCCU) device for the diagnosis of valvular regurgitations using color-flow Doppler was assessed. One hundred twenty hospitalized patients with at least mild valvular regurgitation by standard echocardiography were evaluated by 2 cardiologists using HCCU. The HCCU operator identified 99% of clinically significant valvular regurgitations and assessed the severity correctly in 83% of cases. For mild regurgitation, the HCCU sensitivity and specificity were 82% and 93%, respectively, resulting in correct assessments of severity in 71% of cases. HCCU used by trained cardiologists has high sensitivity for the detection and accurate assessment of the severity of clinically relevant valvular regurgitation.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
authors.forename: Sergio L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Kobal
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tolstrup
authors.forename: Huai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Yoram
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Neuman
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mirocha
authors.forename: Tasneem Z
authors.initials: TZ
authors.lastname: Naqvi
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Siegel
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005260:Female; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity