Use of echocardiography in outpatients with chest pain and normal resting electrocardiograms referred to Mayo Clinic Rochester.

Objectives: To determine how often unnecessary resting echocardiograms that are "not recommended" by clinical practice guidelines are performed in patients with stable chest pain and normal resting electrocardiograms (ECGs).

Background: There are scant data to indicate how often Class III recommendations are ignored in clinical practice.

Patients And Methods: We searched electronically all medical records of referral outpatients seen at Mayo Clinic Rochester from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2013, to identify patients with stable chest pain and known or suspected coronary artery disease who underwent resting echocardiography and had normal resting ECGs and no other indication for echocardiography.

Occupational musculoskeletal pain in cardiac sonographers compared to peer employees: a multisite cross-sectional study.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the prevalence and impact of work-related musculoskeletal pain in cardiac sonographers to a large control group of peer employees with similar demographics.

Background: Cardiac sonographers are known to have high levels of occupational musculoskeletal pain. Comparative studies with other employees within cardiology/radiology departments have never been performed.

Assessing clinical impact of myocardial perfusion studies: ischemia or other prognostic indicators?

One of the major strengths of nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) is the robust prognostic databases from observational studies demonstrating significantly different outcomes in patients with low-risk vs high-risk scans. The severity of the MPI defect can be semi-quantitated using the summed stress score (SSS) and summed difference score (SDS). SSS is more strongly associated with mortality, whereas SDS is the better predictor of subsequent coronary angiography and revascularization.