title: Diagnostic utility and clinical usefulness of the pocket echocardiographic device.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The pocket echocardiograph (PE) with color Doppler imaging belongs to a new class of diagnostic tools, the feasibility and accuracy of which is not well established. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and diagnostic value of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) performed with the use of PE by a cardiology resident (2nd year of training) and by an experienced cardiologist.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study population comprised 220 consecutive patients (142 men, mean age 63 ± 8 years), 110 of whom were admitted to our intensive cardiac care unit (ICU) and 110 patients referred for TTE from the outpatient clinic. All patients had PE TTE performed by a resident (60 ICU patients, 60 outpatients) or a cardiologist (50 ICU patients, 50 outpatients). Within 24 h of PE TTE, all subjects had a standard TTE (sTTE) performed by an experienced echocardiographer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  96% of patients had echocardiographic measurements completed by both PE TTE and sTTE. The dimensions measured with PE TTE by the resident and the cardiologist showed good to excellent correlation with sTTE (r = 0.64-0.96, P < 0.001). The agreement in detection of various pathologies between PE TTE performed by the resident and sTTE examinations was moderate to very good, whereas it was good to excellent if PE TTE was performed by the experienced cardiologist.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The diagnostic accuracy of the PE in basic assessment of cardiac morphology and function as compared to standard echocardiography is moderate to very good for a cardiology resident and good to excellent for an experienced cardiologist. (Echocardiography 2012;29:1-6).
authors: Department of Cardiology, Medical University of Lodz, Poland. bwmichalski@op.pl
authors: Błażej
authors: B
authors: Michalski
authors: Jarosław D
authors: JD
authors: Kasprzak
authors: Ewa
authors: E
authors: Szymczyk
authors: Piotr
authors: P
authors: Lipiec
mesh_terms: D054058:Acute Coronary Syndrome / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008904:Miniaturization; D015588:Observer Variation; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity