The Spectrum of Echocardiographic Abnormalities among Referral Patients in a Tertiary Cardiac Hospital in Bangladesh

Echocardiography is a non-invasive cardiac examination that provides structural and functional information regarding cardiovascular diseases. It is useful in diagnosis as well as in follow-up of patients with cardiovascular diseases. The advent of echocardiography has already revolutionized the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease cases and made up for the decline in clinical skills.

Aim of the Study: This study aimed to assess the spectrum of echocardiographic abnormalities among referral patients in a tertiary care hospital in Bangladesh.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study that was conducted in the Department of Cardiology, Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital & Research Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh from July 2021 to June 2022. In total 221 referred patients to the mentioned hospital who underwent echocardiographic assessment were enrolled in this study as the study population. From all the participants proper consent was taken. Echocardiographic evaluation was performed with Vivid E95 Cardiac Ultrasound system GE. After collecting all data regarding clinical indications, age, sex, and final echocardiographic diagnosis, analyzed and disseminated by using MS Excel and SPSS version 23.0 program as per necessity.

Results: In this study, in analyzing the echocardiographic findings among participants we observed that, the mean ejection fraction (%), interventricular septum thickness (mm) and systolic pulmonary artery pressure (mmHg) of the participants were 56.48±11.37, 12.03±1.28 and 21.47±3.49 respectively. In the majority of the cases (56%), LV diastolic dysfunction, in about half of the cases (44%), mitral valve insufficiency, in more than one-third of cases (36%), aortic valve insufficiency, in 24% of the cases tricuspid valve insufficiency were observed. Besides, aortic valve stenosis (7%), mitral valve stenosis (4%), pericardial effusion (10%), valvular vegetation (1%), and left ventricular thrombus were found in some cases.

Conclusion: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, mitral valve insufficiency, and aortic valve insufficiency may be considered the most frequent echocardiographic abnormalities among referral patients in tertiary care hospitals in Bangladesh.