Handheld Echocardiography in Clinical Practice

Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) represents an established and fundamental tool for the
evaluation of patients with known or suspected cardiovascular disease. Recently,
manufacturers have developed handheld echocardiograms small enough to fit in the pocket of a
physician's lab coat. Studies assessing these handheld devices have several
limitations. While they have generally evaluated the handheld devices favorably, previous
studies has not consistently studied handheld devices under the best possible clinical
conditions and have not necessarily highlighted the devices' limitations.

In this proposal, we seek to analyze the applicability of handheld echocardiograms to
standard clinical practice. The investigators plan to use trained sonographers to perform
handheld examinations on patients referred for TTE without established cardiovascular
disease. The handheld images will be interpreted by experienced, consultant-level
echocardiographers. The investigators then plan to compare findings from the handheld
echocardiogram to the patient's standard clinical TTE.