著者
Hiroki Usuku Eiichiro Yamamoto Fumi Oike Tatsuya Yoshinouchi Kanako Imamura Kenichi Yoshida Daisuke Kanesaki Yasuhiro Toma Ayako Tomita Yuji Ogata Seiki Matsumoto Yoshio Iwayama Tomoko Sassa Shinji Tanaka Yoko Fukuyoshi Tamami Matsumoto Eiichiro Tanaka Hiroyuki Shono Kazuhiro Nishigami Kenichi Tsujita Hirotaka Matsui
出版者
The Japanese Circulation Society
雑誌
Circulation Reports (ISSN:24340790)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.2, no.6, pp.297-305, 2020-06-10 (Released:2020-06-10)
参考文献数
17
被引用文献数
1

Background:There are few reports on current awareness and status of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), including the actual performance rate according to echocardiographic guidelines, in a specific area or region.Methods and Results:This cross-sectional survey study was conducted in Kumamoto Prefecture from October 2018 to March 2019. There are 366 medical institutions advocating cardiology in Kumamoto Prefecture. Of these, 259 (101 hospitals and 158 clinics) returned questionnaires regarding TTE. In all, 150,570 TTEs were performed in 2017. Of these, 132,771 (88%) were performed in hospitals and 17,799 (12%) were performed in clinics. Physicians performed only 5% of TTEs, whereas sonographers performed 86%. Although the modified Simpson method was performed in 90% of hospitals, 3-dimensional echocardiography was performed in only 2% of hospitals. In addition, the left atrial volume index was not examined in approximately 60% of hospitals, and the mean E/E′ ratio was not examined in 80% of hospitals. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that having a Fellow of the Japan Society of Ultrasonic in Medicine was significantly and independently associated with guideline-oriented TTE (odds ratio 9.43; 95% confidence interval 1.22–72.71, P<0.05).Conclusions:The rate of echocardiographic measurements performed according to echocardiographic guidelines is exceptionally low in Kumamoto Prefecture. Sufficient dissemination of echocardiographic guidelines may be important in improving this rate.