BackgroundThe availability of ultra-miniaturized pocket ultrasound devices (PUD) adds diagnostic power to the clinical examination. Information on accuracy of ultrasound with handheld units in immediate differential diagnosis in emergency department (ED) is poor. The aim of this study is to test the usefulness and accuracy of lung ultrasound (LUS) alone or combined with ultrasound of the heart and inferior vena cava (IVC) using a PUD for the differential diagnosis of acute dyspnea (AD).MethodsWe included 68 patients presenting to the ED of “Maurizio Bufalini” Hospital in Cesena (Italy) for AD. All patients underwent integrated ultrasound examination (IUE) of lung-heart-IVC, using PUD. The series was divided into patients with dyspnea of cardiac or non-cardiac origin. We used 2 × 2 contingency tables to analyze sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the three ultrasonic methods and their various combinations for the diagnosis of cardiogenic dyspnea (CD), comparing with the final diagnosis made by an independent emergency physician.ResultsLUS alone exhibited a good sensitivity (92.6%) and specificity (80.5%). The highest accuracy (90%) for the diagnosis of CD was obtained with the combination of LUS and one of the other two methods (heart or IVC).ConclusionsThe IUE with PUD is a useful extension of the clinical examination, can be readily available at the bedside or in ambulance, requires few minutes and has a reliable diagnostic discriminant ability in the setting of AD.
To date, this is the largest echocardiography-based study to analyse the prevalence and aetiology distribution of MR in Europe. The burden of secondary MR was higher than previously described, representing 30% of patients with significant MR. In our environment, degenerative disease is the most common aetiology of primary MR (60%), whereas ischaemic is the most common aetiology of secondary MR (51%). Up to 70% of patients with severe primary MR may have a Class I indication for surgery. However, the optimal therapeutic approach for secondary MR remains uncertain.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) prevalence increases with age, making it the most common arrhythmia in patients older than 65 years; among octogenarians the corresponding rate is approximately 10% 1 and the annual risk of stroke increases to up to 23.5% in high-risk patients. 2 Age is an overlapping factor in both the CHA2DS2-VASc score for stroke 3 and the HASBLED score for bleeding risk 4 ; therefore, elderly patients are at higher risk of both ischaemic and bleeding
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