Background This survey aimed to explore the availability and accessibility of echocardiography during noncardiac surgery worldwide. Methods An internet-based 45-item survey was sent, followed by reminders from August 30, 2021, to August 20, 2022. Results 1189 responses were received from 62 countries. Nearly seventy-one percent of respondents had intraoperatively used transesophageal or transthoracic echocardiography (TEE and TTE, respectively) for monitoring or examination. The unavailability of echocardiography machines (30.3%), lack of trained personnel (30.2%), and absence of clinical indications (22.6%) were the top 3 reasons for not using intraoperative echocardiography in noncardiac surgery. About 61.5% of participants had access to at least one echocardiography machine. About 41% had access to at least 1 TEE probe, and 62.2% had access to at least 1 TTE probe. Seventy-four percent of centers had a procedure to request intraoperative echocardiography if needed for noncardiac cases. Intraoperative echocardiography service was immediately available in 58% of centers. Conclusions Echocardiography machines and skilled echocardiographers are still unavailable at many centers worldwide. National societies should aim to train a critical mass of certified TEE/TTE anesthesiologists and provide all anesthesiologists access to perioperative TEE/TTE machines in anesthesiology departments, considering the increasing number of older and sicker surgical patients scheduled for noncardiac surgery.
A Multi-Country Survey on the Availability of Intraoperative Use of Echocardiography for Noncardiac Surgery / El Tahan, Mohamed; Cheng, Davy C.; Szegedi, Laszlo; Mellin-Olsen, Jannicke; Zdravkovic, Marko; Benedet Lineburger, Eric; Filipescu, Daniela; Tritapepe, Luigi; Guarracino, Fabio; Nigro Neto, Caetano; Camona Garcia, Paula; Ángel Rodenas Monteagudo, Miguel; Vicente Granell Gil, Manuel; Vicente Guillén, Rosario; Gaudard, Philippe; Abdulmomen, Ahmed; Ali Eldawlatly, Abdelazeem; Bubenek-Turconi, Serban-Ion; Stoica, Radu; Licker, Marc; Erdoes, Gabor; Mauermann, Eckhard; Kirov, Mikhail; Lomivorotov, Vladimir; Saldien, Vera; Momeni, Mona; Huang, Jiapeng. - In: SEMINARS IN CARDIOTHORACIC AND VASCULAR ANESTHESIA. - ISSN 1089-2532. - (2024). [10.1177/10892532241256020]
A Multi-Country Survey on the Availability of Intraoperative Use of Echocardiography for Noncardiac Surgery
Luigi TritapepeValidation
;
2024
Abstract
Background This survey aimed to explore the availability and accessibility of echocardiography during noncardiac surgery worldwide. Methods An internet-based 45-item survey was sent, followed by reminders from August 30, 2021, to August 20, 2022. Results 1189 responses were received from 62 countries. Nearly seventy-one percent of respondents had intraoperatively used transesophageal or transthoracic echocardiography (TEE and TTE, respectively) for monitoring or examination. The unavailability of echocardiography machines (30.3%), lack of trained personnel (30.2%), and absence of clinical indications (22.6%) were the top 3 reasons for not using intraoperative echocardiography in noncardiac surgery. About 61.5% of participants had access to at least one echocardiography machine. About 41% had access to at least 1 TEE probe, and 62.2% had access to at least 1 TTE probe. Seventy-four percent of centers had a procedure to request intraoperative echocardiography if needed for noncardiac cases. Intraoperative echocardiography service was immediately available in 58% of centers. Conclusions Echocardiography machines and skilled echocardiographers are still unavailable at many centers worldwide. National societies should aim to train a critical mass of certified TEE/TTE anesthesiologists and provide all anesthesiologists access to perioperative TEE/TTE machines in anesthesiology departments, considering the increasing number of older and sicker surgical patients scheduled for noncardiac surgery.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
