The predictive value of emergency bedside echocardiography on acute pancreatitis severity by assessing cardiac dysfunction / 中华急诊医学杂志

Objective:To investigate the predictive value of emergency bedside echocardiography on acute pancreatitis (AP) severity by assessing cardiac dysfunction.Methods:The clinical data used in this study was prospectively collected from AP patients in the Emergency Department of Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University from June 2018 to December 2020. According to the Atlanta Classification revised at the 2012 Atlanta International Conference, patients were divided into three groups of mild acute pancreatitis (MAP), moderate-severe acute pancreatitis (MSAP), and severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). The differences of comprehensive score index, blood-related index, and echocardiography-related index were compared among the three groups. Besides, the predictive factors of SAP were analyzed by Logistic regression, receiving operating characteristic (ROC) curves of subjects were drawn, and the area under the curve (AUC) was analyzed to evaluate the predictive efficiency.Results:A total of 116 patients were enrolled in this study. Compared with the non-SAP group (MAP group+MSAP group), acute physiology and chronic health evaluation Ⅱ(APACHE Ⅱ) score, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, Ranson score, procalcitonin, cardiac troponin I (cTnI), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NTproBNP), EDD, A-peak, E/A, E'/A', and stroke volume (SV) exhibited significant differences (all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in end-systolic diameter, E-peak, and left ventricular ejection fraction among the three groups ( P>0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed that SOFA score, Ranson score, cTnI, NTproBNP, E'/A', and SV were important predictors of AP severity (all AUC>0.7). Moreover, the predictive value of echocardiography cardiac function assessment index (E'/A' +SV, AUC=0.969) and score index (SOFA score +Ranson score, AUC=0.989) for SAP was better than that of blood index (cTnI+NTproBNP, AUC=0.732). Conclusions:Echocardiographic indicators E'/A' and SV have acceptable predictive values for SAP, providing certain guiding significance for the clinical treatment of AP patients.

Value of bedside echocardiography in predicting persistent patency of the ductus arteriosus during the early postnatal period in very low birth weight infants / 中国当代儿科杂志

OBJECTIVES@#To study the value of bedside echocardiography in predicting persistent patency of the ductus arteriosus during the early postnatal period in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.@*METHODS@#A retrospective analysis was performed for 51 VLBW infants who were admitted from March 2020 to June 2021, with an age of ≤3 days and a length of hospital stay of ≥14 days. According to the diameter of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) on days 14 and 28 after birth, the infants were divided into three groups: large PDA group (PDA diameter ≥2 mm), small PDA group (PDA diameter <2 mm), and PDA closure group (PDA diameter =0 mm). The echocardiographic parameters measured at 72 hours after birth were compared among the three groups. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the value of the echocardiographic parameters in predicting persistent patency of the ductus arteriosus (PDA≥2 mm) at the ages of 14 and 28 days.@*RESULTS@#On day 14 after birth, there were 17 infants in the large PDA group, 11 in the small PDA group, and 23 in the PDA closure group. On day 28 after birth, there were 14 infants in the large PDA group, 9 in the small PDA group, and 26 in the PDA closure group. There were significant differences in gestational age, birth weight, rate of pulmonary surfactant use, and incidence rate of hypotension among the three groups (P<0.05). PDA diameter, end-diastolic velocity of the left pulmonary artery, left ventricular output, and left ventricular output/superior vena cava flow ratio measured at 72 hours after birth were associated with persistent patency of the ductus arteriosus at the ages of 14 and 28 days (P<0.05), and the ratio of the left atrium to aorta diameter was associated with persistent patency of the ductus arteriosus at the age of 28 days (P<0.05). The ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the curve that the PDA diameter measured at 72 hours after birth predicting the persistent patency of the ductus arteriosus at the ages of 14 and 28 days was the largest (0.841 and 0.927 respectively), followed by end-diastolic velocity of the left pulmonary artery, with the area under the curve of 0.793 and 0.833 respectively.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The indicators obtained by beside echocardiography at 72 hours after birth, especially PDA diameter and end-diastolic velocity of the left pulmonary artery, can predict persistent patency of the ductus arteriosus at the ages of 14 and 28 days in VLBW infants, which provides a basis for the implementation of early targeted treatment strategy for PDA.

Diagnostic value of bedside echocardiography with simple A-F mnemonic within 5 minutes by beginners in patients with acute chest pain / 中华急诊医学杂志

Objective To evaluate the diagnostic value of A-F mnemonic performed by sonographers with limited experience in patients with acute chest pain. Methods This was a prospective observational study. Bedside cardiac ultrasound for patients with chest pain was performed by six sonographers with limited experience using A-F mnemonic, evaluating indexes including aortic dissection(A), both ventricles (B), regional wall motion abnormality (RWMA), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤ 50％ (C ,contractility), dimensions (D), pleural and pericardial effusion (E) and further abnormalities (F). Afterwards, experienced cardiac sonographers performed the same examinations, and the difference in the time of ultrasound examination was calculated. The diagnosis of experienced sonographers were referred as the control group, and kappa test was applied to analyze the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value. Results There were 245 cases eligible for study, and 20 cases were excluded. Finally 225 cases of acute chest pain were included in the analysis, containing 158 fatal chest pain and 67 low-risk chest pain. The experienced sonographers diagnosed 20 cases of ascending aortic dissection, 5 cases of right ventricular dilatation, 72 cases of RWMA, 12 cases of LVEF ≤ 50％, 45 cases of left ventricular dilatation, 6 cases of hydropericardium, and 6 cases of other abnormalities. The consistency between beginners and experienced sonographers were as follows:completely same (hydropericardium, Kappa=1.000), highly consistent (ascending aortic dissection, Kappa=0.853, right ventricular dilatation, Kappa=0.931, and other abnormalities, Kappa=0.829), moderately consistent (RWMA, Kappa=0.768, LVEF ≤ 50％, Kappa=0.713 and left ventricular dilatation, Kappa=0.766). The sensitivity and negative predictive value of RWMA and LVEF ≤ 50％ and the positive predictive value of left ventricular dilatation in the beginner sonographers were lower than those in the experienced sonographers. Conclusions A-F mnemonic was a simple and practical way for the beginner sonographers to perform bedside cardiac ultrasound. It was of significant value in making correct diagnosis of most acute chest pain patients and providing quick and reliable information for clinicians.

Bedside echocardiography in the diagnosis and treatment of critically ill children / 中国小儿急救医学

Circulatory failure in critically ill children is a common pathophysiological state.Timely identification of its causes,hemodynamic monitoring and appropriate intervention are essential to block the process of circulatory failure and reduce mortality.In this review,some of the most important hemodynamic parameters that can be obtained by the bedside echocardiography were described and some important issues during the application of bedside echocardiography were discussed.