The benefits of echocardiography in primary care

INTRODUCTION

Echocardiography (echo) is central to the assessment and management of all cardiac diseases. An echocardiogram is produced using ultrasound waves to create a moving picture of the heart. It is the innate advantages of this medium (sound waves are harmless and painless, and portable systems allow convenience with instant, reproducible results) that allows its use to continue to flourish widely beyond traditional hospital settings. Increasing patient multimorbidity resulting from an ageing population is driving an increase in demand for echo. In the UK for the last decade there has been approximately a 3% annual growth in the number of echocardiograms performed.¹ This necessitates an expansion and diversification of echo services, and this has been recognised in the NHS Long Term Plan, which has identified primary care as an area to try to meet this demand and improve diagnosis of heart failure and heart valve disease (HVD).² Here we discuss how echo is currently used in primary care, training pathways for GPs, and how developments in the field can lead to innovative and cost-effective echo services to benefit our patients.