Echocardiographic pattern of heart diseases at a Southwest Nigerian private clinic

Abstract

Background: Echocardiography is a noninvasive tool to evaluate morphological and hemodynamic features of the heart. Though echocardiography is increasingly being used in Nigeria, it is still mostly concentrated in the urban areas in government-owned tertiary health facilities. Materials and Methods: Echocardiograms of 1132 adult patients referred to the echocardiographic laboratory of a private clinic in Nigeria for cardiac evaluation over a 7-year period were retrospectively studied. Results: The age range was 18–95 years with a mean of 52.35 ± 18.03 years. The indications for echocardiography were systemic hypertension (42.5%), congestive cardiac failure (16.8%), and chest pain (9.5%). The common echocardiographic diagnoses were hypertensive heart disease (HHD), 39.9% and valvular heart disease (VHD), 15.0%. Rheumatic heart disease accounted for 67.7% of those diagnosed of VHD or 10.2% of the study population. Congenital heart disease was diagnosed in 1.7% of the cases comprising ventricular septal defect (0.5%), atrial septal defect (0.5%), persistent patent ductus arteriosus (0.4%), and bicuspid aorta (0.2%). The confirmation rate for HHD was 66.1%, while 70% and 57.1% of those referred on account of unexplained leg swelling and dyspnea, respectively, had heart disease. Heart disease was confirmed in 45.5% of the patients referred for routine test. Conclusion: Systemic hypertension and HHD was the most common indication for echocardiography and the most common echocardiographic diagnosis, respectively, in our study population. Rheumatic heart disease was the most common VHD. Echocardiographic confirmation rate was high in patients referred for HHD, and echocardiography may be useful in the evaluation of patients with unexplained leg swelling and dyspnea.

Keywords

• Echocardiography
• heart diseases
• private practice