Introduction: Identification 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)-performed 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 regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA) by two blinded ultrasound fellowship-trained EPs. We then calculated test characteristics for coronary intervention.
Results: Of the 221 patient encounters meeting inclusion criteria, 104 (47%) received coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) referral. Overall prevalence of RWMA on POC TTE was 35% (95% confidence interval [CI] 29–42%). Presence of RWMA had 38% (95% CI 29–49%) sensitivity and 68% (95% CI 58–76%) specificity for coronary intervention/CABG referral. Presence of “new” RWMA (presence on EP-performed POC TTE and prior normal echocardiogram) had 43% (95%CI 10–82%) sensitivity and 93% (95% CI 66–100%) specificity for coronary intervention/CABG referral. The EP-performed POC TTE interpretation of RWMA had 57% (95% CI 47–67%) sensitivity and 96%(95% CI 87–100%) specificity for presence of RWMA on subsequent cardiology echocardiogram during the same admission.
Conclusion: Presence of RWMA on EP-performed POC TTE had limited sensitivity or specificity for coronary intervention or referral to CABG. The observed specificity appeared to trend higher in subjects with a prior echocardiogram demonstrating absence of RWMA, although a larger sample size will be required to confirm this finding. The EP-performed POC TTE RWMA had high specificity for presence of RWMA on subsequent cardiology echocardiogram. Further evaluation of the diagnostic performance of new RWMA on EP-performed POC TTE with a dedicated cohort is warranted.
