Open AccessVisual estimation of ejection fraction by two‐dimensional echocardiography: The learning curve
Author(s) -
Akinboboye Olakunle,
Sumner John,
Gopal Aasha,
King Donald,
Shen Zhanging,
Bardfeld Philip,
Blanz Lisa,
Brown Edward J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
clinical cardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.263
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1932-8737
pISSN - 0160-9289
DOI - 10.1002/clc.4960181208
Subject(s) - medicine , ejection fraction , correlation , radionuclide ventriculography , observer (physics) , estimation , cardiology , nuclear medicine , heart failure , mathematics , physics , geometry , quantum mechanics , management , economics
Our purpose was to determine the learning curve of visual estimation of ejection fraction (EF) by echocardiography. Sixty consecutive patients, who had clinically indicated echocardiography and radionuclide ventriculography (RVG) within 1 month were selected. Five standard views were reviewed independently by a first‐year cardiology fellow, a private cardiologist, and an experienced echocardiographer. Observers were given feedback of the RVG EFs immediately after estimating the EF on each study. To assess the effect of learning, the echocardiographic studies were divided into three groups of 20 and were read successively by each observer. A statistical comparison of the two methods was performed for each group. The correlation between the two techniques for the first group of studies was marginal. There was a significant improvement in the correlation with subsequent groups. The correlation did not change significantly with the last group of studies compared with the second group. In conclusion, visual estimation of EF by two‐dimensional echocardiography can be learned, with a learning curve of approximately 20 studies if immediate feed‐back is available.