Portable echocardiography – importance and usefulness

• Autor(a) principal: Reis Pina, Paulo
• Data de Publicação: 2004
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://revista.spmi.pt/index.php/rpmi/article/view/1760
• topic: Ecocardiografia; portátil; móvel; ultra-sons; estetoscópio; echocardiography; hand-held; hand-carried; portable; point-of-care; ultrasound stethoscope; personal ultrasound imager

In recent years, several compact, lightweight, fully functional devices have appeared allowing real-time echocardiography. These hand-held devices may be useful in different situations and be part of a complete physical examination at the bedside, as well as the stethoscope has been since its introduction by Laennec.Portable ultrasound stethoscopes are small computers that have integrated 2 dimensional control settings and a colour power Doppler fl ow mapping. They enable a physician to have an assessment of cardiac morphology, global and regional left ventricle function, performing immediate diagnosis and giving treatment algorithms. The main advantage is to address in loco a specifi c question raised by the assistant physician. Its use in emergency departments, on wards, and in outpatient settings contributes to a further improvement in patient care, giving a new dimension to the relationship doctor/patient. It will permit to the assistant physician to refer a patient to a specifi c specialist more rapidly. The application of these devices obliges non-cardiologists to get some training in the context of echocardiology, specially focused in the use of effi cient, less expensive, hand-held systems, which can rapidly reach different patients settings. Through the implementation of portable echocardiography in health care institutions waiting periods for cardiac examinations will become shorter, with a signifi cantly improvement in costs reduction and quality management.