title: Hand-carried echocardiography in heart failure and heart failure risk population: a community based prospective study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The basic reservation concerning the use of hand-carried echocardiographic devices by general practitioners has been a lack of data demonstrating that they would provide clinically important information on patients' outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred seventy-five patients with heart failure and/or heart failure risk factors were selected from a general community outpatient clinic. They underwent simplified hand-carried echocardiography performed by an internist with basic echocardiographic experience and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide measurements. Patients were followed for the occurrence of the combined end point, consisting of death or hospitalization for cardiovascular causes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Hand-carried echocardiographic results were abnormal in 90 patients (55%). During 48 ± 7 months of follow-up, the combined end point occurred in 41 patients (25%). On multivariate analysis, only abnormal echocardiography (hazard ratio, 5.55; 95% confidence interval, 2.04-14.28; P = .0004) was an independent predictor of outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hand-carried echocardiographic examinations performed by an internist with basic echocardiographic training can provide important prognostic information, independent of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland. mlipczynska@ikard.pl
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lipczyńska
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Szymański
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Klisiewicz
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hoffman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015897:Comorbidity; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008904:Miniaturization; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology*