Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26152673›Full record

ArticleJournal of the Royal Society of Medicine2015

Diagnostic accuracy of cardiothoracic ratio on admission chest radiography to detect left or right ventricular systolic dysfunction: a retrospective study.

Harmeet S Chana, Claire A Martin, Holly E Cakebread, Felicia D Adjei, Parag R Gajendragadkar

Open access · bronzeAbstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 20% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. New parameter for QRS complex low voltage in chagasic cardiomyopathy: the ADOC index.Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical · 2025
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  8. Review
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  11. A role model for iconoclasts.Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine · 2015
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Harmeet S ChanaDepartment of Radiology, North West London Hospitals NHS Trust, Bedford Hospital, Harrow HA1 3UJ, UK.
Claire A MartinDepartment of Cardiology, Bedford Hospital NHS Trust, Bedford MK42 9DJ, UK.
Holly E CakebreadDepartment of Cardiology, Bedford Hospital NHS Trust, Bedford MK42 9DJ, UK.
Felicia D AdjeiDepartment of Cardiology, Bedford Hospital NHS Trust, Bedford MK42 9DJ, UK.
Parag R GajendragadkarDepartment of Cardiology, Bedford Hospital NHS Trust, Bedford MK42 9DJ, UK gajendragadkar@gmail.com.
Bedford Hospital · GBLondon North West Healthcare NHS Trust · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo determine the diagnostic accuracy of the cardiothoracic ratio on postero-anterior or antero-posterior chest radiographs in predicting left ventricular or right ventricular dysfunction on echocardiography in an inpatient population.

designRetrospective study.

settingTwo secondary care hospitals in the United Kingdom.

participantsFour hundred consecutive inpatient echocardiograms were screened for inclusion along with chest radiographs (both postero-anterior and antero-posterior). The cardiothoracic ratio was calculated from chest radiographs along with quantitative and qualitative measures of left ventricular or right ventricular dysfunction on echocardiography.

main outcome measuresSensitivity and specificity of cardiothoracic ratio across a range of values to detect moderate/severe left ventricular and/or right ventricular dysfunction on echocardiography.

resultsOverall, 272 records met inclusion criteria. The prevalence of left ventricular/right ventricular dysfunction on echocardiography was 26% in an inpatient population with high clinical suspicion of cardiac disease referred for echocardiography. Over a range of cardiothoracic ratio values on postero-anterior films, a value of >0.55 yielded the best sensitivity (62.5%) and specificity (76.5%) for diagnosing left ventricular/right ventricular impairment (positive likelihood ratio 2.56), with a positive predictive value of 29.5%. Cardiothoracic ratio on antero-posterior film was not predictive of left ventricular/right ventricular impairment on echocardiography.

conclusionsIn conclusion, in the context of an acute admission, cardiothoracic ratio measured on postero-anterior or antero-posterior films has limited value in detecting moderate left ventricular and/or right ventricular systolic dysfunction. Previously established absolute values may be unreliable by modern standards.

Indexed as

Radiography, ThoracicAgedEchocardiographyEnglandFemaleHumansMalePredictive Value of TestsRetrospective StudiesSensitivity and SpecificityVentricular Dysfunction, LeftVentricular Dysfunction, Rightcardiovascular diseasediagnosisheart failurehospital medicineradiology

Identifiers

PMID26152673
PMCPMC4535437
OpenAlexW2137346552

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.