The use of portable ultrasound devices in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of the literature
| Autor: | Sören L. Becker, Chelsea A. Tafoya, Grant H. Kruger, Dawn M. Becker, Torben K. Becker, Matthew J. Tafoya |
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| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
medicine.medical_specialty
Point-of-Care Systems media_common.quotation_subject Physical examination Scientific literature 030204 cardiovascular system & hematology Ultrasonography Prenatal 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Humans Medicine Medical physics Quality (business) Developing Countries Ultrasonography media_common medicine.diagnostic_test business.industry Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health 030208 emergency & critical care medicine Portable ultrasound Triage Clinical trial Infectious Diseases Echocardiography Low and middle income countries Parasitology Rural area business |
| Zdroj: | Tropical Medicine & International Health. 21:294-311 |
| ISSN: | 1360-2276 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/tmi.12657 |
| Popis: | To review the scientific literature pertaining to the use of hand-carried and hand-held ultrasound devices in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), with a focus on clinical applications, geographical areas of use, the impact on patient management and technical features of the devices used.; The electronic databases PubMed and Google Scholar were searched. No language or date restrictions were applied. Case reports and original research describing the use of hand-carried ultrasound devices in LMIC were included if agreed upon as relevant by two-reviewer consensus based on our predefined research questions.; A total of 644 articles were found and screened, and 36 manuscripts were included for final review. Twenty-seven studies were original research articles, and nine were case reports. Several reports describe the successful diagnosis and management of difficult, often life-threatening conditions, using hand-carried and hand-held ultrasound. These portable ultrasound devices have also been studied for cardiac screening exams, as well as a rapid triage tool in rural areas and after natural disaster. Most applications focus on obstetrical and abdominal complaints. Portable ultrasound may have an impact on clinical management in up to 70% of all cases. However, no randomised controlled trials have evaluated the impact of ultrasound-guided diagnosis and treatment in resource-constrained settings. The exclusion of articles published in journals not listed in the large databases may have biased our results. Our findings are limited by the lack of higher quality evidence (e.g. controlled trials).; Hand-carried and hand-held ultrasound is successfully being used to triage, diagnose and treat patients with a variety of complaints in LMIC. However, the quality of the current evidence is low. There is an urgent need to perform larger clinical trials assessing the impact of hand-carried ultrasound in LMIC. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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