Letters
Investigating suspected heart failure
What does article on investigating suspected heart failure add to current practice?
BMJ 2013; 346 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f3564 (Published 04 June 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f3564
- Caroline Broughton, core trainee year 1, cardiology1,
- James Rigby, core trainee year 1, cardiology1,
- Duwarakan Satchithananda, consultant cardiologist1
- 1University Hospital of North Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent ST4 6QG, UK
- Caroline.Broughton{at}uhns.nhs.uk
After reading this practice article,1 which was based on 2010 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance, we would like to comment, particularly on the use of electrocardiography (ECG) in primary care for diagnosing heart failure.
ECG is a poor discriminator for the diagnosis of left ventricular systolic dysfunction.2 The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines 2012 state that …
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