Emergency Physician-performed Echocardiogram in Non-ST Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients Requiring Coronary Intervention

Introduction: Identi fication of patients not meeting catheterization laboratory activation criteria by electrocardiogram (ECG) but who would benefit from early coronary intervention remains challenging in the emergency department (ED). The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether emergency physician (EP)-perform ed point-of-care transthoracic echocardiography (POC TTE) could help identify patients who required coronary intervention within this population.Methods: This was a retrospective observational cohort study of adult patients who presented to two EDs between 2018 –2020. Patients were included if they received a POC TTE and underwent diagnostic coronary angiography within 72 hours of ED presentation. We excluded patients meeting catheterization laboratory activation criteria on initial ED ECG. Ultrasound studies were independently reviewed for presence of r egional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA) by two blinded ultrasound fellowship-trained...
Source: Western Journal of Emergency Medicine - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Source Type: research