Parental Acquisition of Echocardiographic Images in Pediatric Heart Transplant Patients Using a Handheld Device: A Pilot Telehealth Study

摘要

Background: Pediatric heart transplant patients (PedHtx) require frequent monitoring by echocardiography (echo); however, they often live far from hospitals with pediatric echo services, resulting in urgent/emergent transfers to specialized institutions. Our primary objective was to evaluate the feasibility of parental acquisition of echo images to assess left ventricular (LV) systolic function in PedHtx using a handheld echo device. Secondary objectives included retesting for skill maintenance and in patients with decreased LV systolic function.