Echocardiogram Before Elective Surgery Does Not Help Survival, Study Says
Echocardiography may actually cause harm, physicians should reconsider its role for elective surgery
Aug. 18, 2011 - A new study has found no evidence that patients who had a heart ultrasound, known as an echocardiogram,
before major surgery had improved survival rates one year or even one month after their operation. Some groups of patients actually had worse
survival rates.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal, adds to a growing body of evidence that echocardiograms may
not be helpful in predicting which patients are likely to have complications after major surgery and therefore require more specialized care.
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"These findings have important implications, especially since thousands of people undergo surgery around the world every
day," said Dr. Duminda Wijeysundera, a scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for
Clinical Evaluative Sciences. He is also an anesthesiologist at Toronto General Hospital.
"Given that echocardiography may actually cause harm, physicians should reconsider its role for patients undergoing
elective surgery. This study also highlights the importance of rigorously evaluating how tests are used in medicine and the fact that more
testing is not always better."
An echocardiogram (ECHO) uses sound waves to create a picture of the heart, showing the shape, texture and movement of
heart valves as well as the size of the heart chambers and how well they are working.
Dr. Wijeysundera found that 15 per cent of the almost 265,000 Ontario residents who underwent major surgery between 1999
and 2008 had echocardiograms beforehand. That makes the echocardiogram one of the most commonly ordered pre-operative tests.
Despite its common use, there was no evidence that the patients who had echocardiograms had improved survival at one
month or one year after surgery.
Some groups of patients appear to do worse if they had undergone echocardiography. If a patient had two or fewer risk
factors for postoperative cardiac complications and had not undergone cardiac stress testing, having an echocardiogram was associated with a
higher chance of dying within one year after surgery. Risk factors could include such conditions as diabetes, kidney disease or a history of
heart disease.
Dr. Wijeysundera and his colleagues have previously shown that if patients had at least one risk factor for postoperative
cardiac complications, they had better survival after surgery if they had undergone stress testing before their operation.
Despite these better outcomes with stress testing, physicians in Ontario are 50 per cent more likely to order an
echocardiogram before surgery, perhaps because they are often easier to order quickly.
Dr. Wijeysundera said there are some potential reasons for these findings. Since echocardiograms do not perform that well
in distinguishing between high-risk and low-risk patients, physicians may have been incorrectly reassured that some high-risk patients could
safely undergo surgery with no additional specialized care.
What Is Echocardiography? Echocardiogram?
Echocardiography (EK-o-kar-de-OG-ra-fee), or echo, is a painless test that uses sound waves to create pictures of your
heart.
The test gives your doctor information about the size and shape of your heart and how well your heart's chambers and
valves are working. Echo also can be done to detect heart problems in infants and children.
The test also can identify areas of heart muscle that aren't contracting normally due to poor blood flow or injury from a
previous
heart attack. In addition, a type of echo called Doppler ultrasound shows how well blood flows through the chambers and valves of your
heart.
Echo can detect possible blood clots inside the heart, fluid buildup in the pericardium (the sac around the heart), and
problems with the aorta. The aorta is the main artery that carries oxygen-rich blood from your heart to your body.
In addition, some physicians may have incorrectly thought that some low-risk patients needed specialized care and
therefore given them unnecessary and potentially harmful interventions.
"If echocardiography results in patients having a better chance of surviving after major surgery, its increased use is
justified," Dr. Wijeysundera said. "If it does not, the relatively common use of echocardiography represents an unnecessary healthcare cost
that may also unnecessarily delay scheduled surgeries."
Notes:
St. Michael's Hospital Statement:
St. Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The Hospital also provides outstanding
medical education to future health care professionals in more than 23 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease,
neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, and care of the homeless are among the Hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan
Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research at St. Michael's Hospital is recognized and put into practice around the
world. Founded in 1892, the Hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.
ICES Statement:
ICES is an independent, non-profit organization that uses population-based health information to produce knowledge on a
broad range of health care issues. Our unbiased evidence provides measures of health system performance, a clearer understanding of the
shifting health care needs of Ontarians, and a stimulus for discussion of practical solutions to optimize scarce resources. ICES knowledge is
highly regarded in Canada and abroad, and is widely used by government, hospitals, planners, and practitioners to make decisions about care
delivery and to develop policy.
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