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Alsharqi M, Ismavel VA, Arnold L, Choudhury SS, Solomi V C, Rao S, Nath T, Rani A, Goel I, Kakoty SD, Mahanta P, Roy I, Deka R, Opondo C, Baigent C, Leeson P, Nair M. Focused Cardiac Ultrasound to Guide the Diagnosis of Heart Failure in Pregnant Women in India. J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2022; 35:1281-1294. [PMID: 35934263 DOI: 10.1016/j.echo.2022.07.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2022] [Revised: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cardiac complications are a leading cause of maternal death. Cardiac imaging with echocardiography is important for prompt diagnosis, but it is not available in many low-resource settings. The aim of this study was to determine whether focused cardiac ultrasound performed by trained obstetricians and interpreted remotely by experts can identify cardiac abnormalities in pregnant women in low-resource settings. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted among 301 pregnant and postpartum women recruited from 10 hospitals across three states in India. Twenty-two obstetricians were trained in image acquisition using a portable cardiac ultrasound device following a simplified protocol adapted from focus-assessed transthoracic echocardiography protocol. It included parasternal long-axis, parasternal short-axis, and apical four-chamber views on two-dimensional and color Doppler. Independent image interpretation was performed remotely by two experts, in the United Kingdom and India, using a standard semiquantitative assessment protocol. Interrater agreement between the experts was examined using Cohen's κ. Diagnostic accuracy of the method was examined in a subsample for whom both focused and conventional scans were available. RESULTS Cardiac abnormalities identified using the focused method included valvular abnormalities (27%), rheumatic heart disease (6.6%), derangements in left ventricular size (4.7%) and function (22%), atrial dilatation (19.5%), and pericardial effusion (30%). There was substantial agreement on the cardiac parameters between the two experts, ranging from 93.6% (κ = 0.84) for left ventricular ejection fraction to 100% (κ = 1) for valvular disease. Image quality was graded as good in 79% of parasternal long-axis, 77% of parasternal short-axis and 64% of apical four-chamber views. The chance-corrected κ coefficients indicated fair to moderate agreement (κ = 0.28-0.51) for the image quality parameters. There was good agreement on diagnosis between the focused method and standard echocardiography (78% agreement), compared in 36 participants. CONCLUSIONS The focused method accurately identified cardiac abnormalities in pregnant women and could be used for screening cardiac problems in obstetric settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maryam Alsharqi
- Cardiovascular Clinical Research Facility, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; Department of Cardiac Technology, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
| | - Vijay A Ismavel
- Makunda Christian Leprosy and General Hospital, Assam, India
| | - Linda Arnold
- Cardiovascular Clinical Research Facility, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | | | | | - Sereesha Rao
- Silchar Medical College and Hospital, Assam, India
| | - Tina Nath
- Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Assam, India
| | - Anjali Rani
- Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Isha Goel
- Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Assam, India
| | - Swapna D Kakoty
- Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital, Assam, India
| | | | | | - Rupanjali Deka
- Srimanta Sankaradeva University of Health Sciences, Assam, India
| | - Charles Opondo
- Department of Medical Statistics, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Colin Baigent
- MRC Population Health Research Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Paul Leeson
- Cardiovascular Clinical Research Facility, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Manisha Nair
- National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
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