Observational studyCanadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie2022
Comparison of qualitative information obtained with the echocardiographic assessment using subcostal-only view and focused transthoracic echocardiography examinations: a prospective observational study.
Observational study in Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Integrating Rapid Cardiopulmonary and Gastric Ultrasound for Emergency Airway Management in Critically Ill Patients: A Case Series of Resident-Performed Echocardiographic Assessment Using Subcostal-Only-View in Physiologically Difficult Airway.Critical care explorations · 2025Article
- Blood or Fat? Differentiating Hemopericardium versus Epicardial Fat Using Focused Cardiac Ultrasound.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Is 1 Day of Focused Training in Echocardiographic Assessment Using Subxiphoid-Only (EASy) Examination Enough? A Tertiary Hospital Response to the COVID-19 Crisis and the Use of the EASy Examination to Support Unit-Wide Image Acquisition.Critical care explorations · 2024Article
- Point-of-Care Echocardiography in the Difficult-to-Image Patient in the ICU: A Narrative Review.Critical care explorations · 2024Review
- The value of subcostal echocardiographic assessment, and directions for future research.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo evaluate whether echocardiographic assessment using the subcostal-only window (EASy) compared with focused transthoracic echocardiography (FTTE) using three windows (parasternal, apical, and subcostal) can provide critical information to serve as an entry-point technique for novice sonographers.
methodsWe conducted a retrospective study to compare diagnostic information acquired during EASy and FTTE examinations on qualitative left ventricular (LV) size, LV contractility, right ventricular (RV) size, RV contractility, interventricular septal position, and the presence of a significant pericardial effusion. Anesthesiology residents (novice users) performed FTTE for hemodynamic instability and/or respiratory distress or to define volume status in the perioperative setting, and later collected images were grouped into EASy and FTTE examinations. Both examinations were reviewed independently by a board-certified cardiologist and an anesthesiologist proficient in critical care echocardiography. FTTE and EASy findings were compared utilizing Gwet's AC1 coefficient to consider disagreement due to chance.
resultsWe reviewed 102 patients who received FTTE over a period of 14 months. Of those, 82 had usable subcostal views and were included in the analysis. There was substantial agreement for qualitatively evaluating RV size (Gwet's AC1, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.54 to 0.85), LV size (Gwet's AC1, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.58 to 0.88), and LV contractility (Gwet's AC1, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.58 to 0.88) utilizing EASy and FTTE. Additionally, there was an almost perfect agreement when assessing the presence of pericardial effusion (Gwet's AC1, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.95 to 1.0) and RV contractility (Gwet's AC1, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.95) and evaluating the motion of the interventricular septum (Gwet's AC1, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.85 to 0.99).
conclusionsWhen images could be obtained from the subcostal window (the EASy examination), qualitative diagnostic information was sufficiently accurate compared with information obtained during FTTE examination. Our findings suggest that the EASy examination can serve as the entry point technique to FTTE for novice clinicians.
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