2009 Volume 73 Issue 6 Pages 1092-1096
Background: A pocket-sized portable transthoracic echocardiographic (pTTE) imaging device is commercially available, but its feasibility and accuracy in the assessment of cardiac chamber size and function has not been fully compared with the results of standard TTE (sTTE) examination. Methods and Results: The target population comprised 125 unselected patients who underwent sTTE and pTTE examinations. The left ventricular (LV) diastolic and systolic dimensions, fractional shortening (FS), the thickness of the interventricular septum (IVS) and of the LV posterior wall (PWT), left atrial (LA) dimension, and ascending aorta diameter were measured. Echocardiographic measurements were completed for both pTTE and sTTE in all patients (feasibility 100%). LV dimensions, FS, IVS, PWT, LA dimension, and aorta diameter obtained by pTTE showed excellent correlation and agreement with sTTE (r=0.87-0.98, all P<0.001). Observer variabilities for these measurements were similar between pTTE and sTTE. Conclusions: In the present study, pTTE with the Acuson P10 was feasible and accurate for assessing cardiac chamber size and function. (Circ J 2009; 73: 1092-1096)
