Abbreviated Echocardiographic Screening for Rheumatic Heart Disease by Nonexperts with and without Offsite Expert Review: A Diagnostic Accuracy Study.

Background: Early detection of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) through echocardiographic screening can facilitate early access to effective treatment, which reduces the risk for progression. Accurate, feasible approaches to echocardiographic screening that can be incorporated into routine health services are needed. The authors hypothesized that offsite expert review could improve the diagnostic accuracy of nonexpert-obtained echocardiographic images.

Single-View Echocardiography by Nonexpert Practitioners to Detect Rheumatic Heart Disease: A Prospective Study of Diagnostic Accuracy.

Background: Echocardiographic screening can detect asymptomatic cases of rheumatic heart disease (RHD), facilitating access to treatment. Barriers to implementation of echocardiographic screening include the requirement for expensive equipment and expert practitioners. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of an abbreviated echocardiographic screening protocol (single parasternal-long-axis view with a sweep of the heart) performed by briefly trained, nonexpert practitioners using handheld ultrasound devices.

Hyperendemic rheumatic heart disease in a remote Australian town identified by echocardiographic screening.

Objectives: Using echocardiographic screening, to estimate the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in a remote Northern Territory town.

Design: Prospective, cross-sectional echocardiographic screening study; results compared with data from the NT rheumatic heart disease register.

Setting, Participants: People aged 5-20 years living in Maningrida, West Arnhem Land (population, 2610, including 2366 Indigenous Australians), March 2018 and November 2018.

The RECARDINA Study protocol: diagnostic utility of ultra-abbreviated echocardiographic protocol for handheld machines used by non-experts to detect rheumatic heart disease.

Introduction: Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) causes significant morbidity and mortality in young people from disadvantaged populations. Early detection through echocardiography screening can facilitate early access to treatment. Large-scale implementation of screening could be feasible with the combination of inexpensive standalone ultrasound transducers and upskilling non-expert practitioners to perform abbreviated echocardiography.