The Utility of Portable Echocardiography as a Clinical Tool in International Medicine: An Exploratory Study in Uganda

s S119 pericardial effusion (PeriE), and in severe cases cardiac tamponade. Echocardiograms are routinely obtained following PVI to rule out PeriE. The V-Scan unit is a novel handheld ultrasound unit capable of limited echocardiographic imaging. It is lighter,more portable and less expensive to function than a traditional echocardiogram. We aimed to learn if V-Scan can safely be used to rule out PeriE in post PVI patients when compared to traditional echocardiogram. METHODS: Seventeen consecutive patients undergoing PVI for AF treatment at the Kingston General Hospital were included. All patients underwent limited echocardiogram protocol immediately following PVI with both VScan and traditional echocardiogram devices. Limited imaging protocol included 5 imaging planes in 4 chamber, 2 chamber, parasternal long-axis, parasternal short axis and subcostal views. A total of 34 sets (17 2) of patient and device specific images were obtained. All images were edited to eliminate deviceidentifying features and randomized for the evaluating cardiologist. Image quality and diagnostic power were compared. RESULTS: Quality: Among images rated excellent quality, 28.6% were from VScan, compared to 71.4% from traditional echocardiogram. Among all images rated poor quality, 75.0% were from VScan, compared to 25.0% from traditional echocardiogram. 82.4% of VScan images were rated adequate diagnostic quality or better. Among studies in which all 5 imaging planes could be satisfactorily obtained, 40% were obtained from VScan, compared to 60% from traditional echocardiogram. Diagnostic Power: There were 3 non-diagnostic studies, all of which are from VScan images. VScan images identified 2 pericardial effusions that did not match with the conclusion from the traditional echocardiogram images, in that no pericardial effusions were identified in the traditional echo images. CONCLUSION: 1 Traditional echocardiogram is superior in imaging quality and in ability to obtain multiple diagnostic imaging planes. 2 VScan led to more non-diagnostic studies and a tendency to over-diagnose pericardial effusion. 3 Nevertheless, VScan was able to obtain satisfactory diagnostic quality images in over 82.4% of patients. 079 THE UTILITY OF PORTABLE ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY AS A CLINICAL TOOL IN INTERNATIONAL MEDICINE: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY IN UGANDA DS Wright, MB Tsang, Z Khalid, J Schwalm, J Kayima, A Mulji, O Salehian