Why Portable Handheld Cardiac Ultrasound Devices Ought to Incorporate 3-lead Electrocardiographs: A Mini-narrative Review

Abstract

Introduction: Transthoracic echocardiography is a non-invasive diagnostic test used to assess the structure and function of the heart in real-time. An examination of the heart's electrical activity is done non-invasively through electrocardiography (ECG). The ECG is primarily used during an echocardiography procedure to assess the heart's rhythm and to synchronise the cardiac cycles with echocardiographic image acquisition; this enables the echocardiographer to acquire images at specific phases of the cardiac cycle. A handheld echocardiograph is not connected to the electrocardiogram, which is a clinical limitation for the point-of-care ultrasound procedure. The objectives of this review are to highlight the reasons why 3-lead electrocardiography should be incorporated into pocket-sized handheld echocardiographs to support clinicians in conducting and reporting complete cardiac investigations. Methods: An in-depth search was made on the PubMed database to find experimental and review studies that assessed the importance of 3-lead ECG in the acquisition of hand-held echocardiographic data. Four related studies were selected for this review. Results: The study found that integrating cardiac point-of-care ultrasound into primary healthcare practices such as family medicine or general practitioners’ practices and training clinicians to accurately perform the procedure can expedite cardiovascular disease diagnosis and treatment in critical and non-critical scenarios. Secondly, recent hand-held cardiac ultrasound examination outcomes are as accurate and precise as standard transthoracic echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Conclusion: Furthermore, medical device companies should consider integrating and producing new hand-held echocardiographs with configured 3-lead electrocardiographs that are artificial intelligence-enhanced to assist clinicians in precise point-of-care cardiac assessments.