OBJECTIVE To assess whether a normal electrocardiogram can identify good left ventricular function and obviate the need for routine left ventriculography in patients undergoing cardiac catheterization for suspected coronary artery disease. DESIGN A prospective study of patients undergoing cardiac catheterisation. SETTING A regional cardiac centre. PATIENTS The electrocardiograms, coronary...

OBJECTIVE To determine the diagnostic potential of a hand carried cardiac ultrasound (HCU) device (OptiGo, Philips Medical Systems) in a cardiology outpatient clinic and to compare the HCU diagnosis with the clinical diagnosis and diagnosis with a full featured standard echocardiography (SE) system. METHODS 300 consecutive patients took part in the study. The HCU examination was performed by ...