ArticleThe ultrasound journal2019
Cardiac ultrasound in resource-limited settings (CURLS): towards a wider use of basic echo applications in Africa.
Article in The ultrasound journal, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Point-of-care echocardiography training pathways: a global perspective and the need for standardisation.Open heart · 2026Review
- Advancements and Applications of Focused Assessed Transthoracic Echocardiography: A Narrative Review.Health science reports · 2026Article
- The role of artificial intelligence in early detection and risk prediction of ischemic heart disease.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2026Review
- From concepts to evaluation: mapping approaches to POCUS training assessment in low- and middle-income countries - a systematic scoping review.The ultrasound journal · 2026Article
- Concepts for point-of-care ultrasound training in low resource settings: a scoping review.The ultrasound journal · 2025Review
- Overcoming barriers in the use of artificial intelligence in point of care ultrasound.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Review
- Article
- Point-of-care ultrasound to inform antiviral treatment initiation in chronic hepatitis B virus infection in low-resource settings - the PUSH protocol.The ultrasound journal · 2024Article
- A comparison of cardiovascular imaging practices in Africa, North America, and Europe: two faces of the same coin.European heart journal. Imaging methods and practice · 2023Article
- Task shifting for point of care ultrasound in primary healthcare in low- and middle-income countries-a systematic review.EClinicalMedicine · 2022Review
- The evolution of cardiac point of care ultrasound for the neonatologist.European journal of pediatrics · 2021Article
- The role of echocardiography in amniotic fluid embolism: a case series and review of the literature.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2021Review
- Diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound in medical inpatients at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Malawi: an observational study of practice and evaluation of implementation.Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · 2021Observational
- Evaluation of a novel handheld point-of-care ultrasound device in an African emergency department.The ultrasound journal · 2020Article
- Point-of-Care Ultrasound.Current cardiology reports · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 9 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPoint-of-care ultrasound is increasingly being used as a diagnostic tool in resource-limited settings. The majority of existing ultrasound protocols have been developed and implemented in high-resource settings. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), patients with heart failure of various etiologies commonly present late in the disease process, with a similar syndrome of dyspnea, edema and cardiomegaly on chest X-ray. The causes of heart failure in SSA differ from those in high-resource settings. Point-of-care ultrasound has the potential to identify the underlying etiology of heart failure, and lead to targeted therapy. Based on a literature review and weighted score of disease prevalence, diagnostic impact and difficulty in performing the ultrasound, we propose a context-specific cardiac ultrasound protocol to help differentiate patients presenting with heart failure in SSA.
resultsPericardial effusion, dilated cardiomyopathy, cor pulmonale, mitral valve disease, and left ventricular hypertrophy were identified as target conditions for a focused ultrasound protocol in patients with cardiac failure and cardiomegaly in SSA. By utilizing a simplified 5-question approach with all images obtained from the subxiphoid view, the protocol is suitable for use by health care professionals with limited ultrasound experience.
conclusionsThe "Cardiac ultrasound for resource-limited settings (CURLS)" protocol is a context-specific algorithm designed to aid the clinician in diagnosing the five most clinically relevant etiologies of heart failure and cardiomegaly in SSA. The protocol has the potential to influence treatment decisions in patients who present with clinical signs of heart failure in resource-limited settings outside of the traditional referral institutions.
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Registered trials
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.