Guidelines for triaging and clinical indications for adult transthoracic echocardiography

Autori:

Jadranka Šeparović Hanževački, Dijana Delić Brkljačić, Sandra Jakšić Jurinjak, Nikola Bulj, Darija Baković Kramarić, Kristina Selthofer Relatić, Teodora Zaninović Jurjević, Davor Miličić

Sažetak
Transtorakalna ehokardiografija (TTE) osnovna je slikovna i funkcionalna dijagnostička metoda u kardiologiji sa širokim opsegom u postavljanju kardioloških dijagnoza i praćenju kardiološkog liječenja. Osim u kardiologiji, sve više raste potreba za tom pretragom u kliničkoj praksi drugih grana kliničke medicine. Vrlo široka primjena i nestandardizirani kriteriji upućivanja doveli su do velike potražnje za ehokardiografijom. Istodobno raste nesrazmjer u odnosu neopravdanih zahtjeva i jasne kliničke koristi za bolesnika od pravodobne ehokardiografske dijagnostike. Riječ je o problemu koji ima i globalni karakter te su međunarodna ehokardiografska društva u suradnji s nacionalnim zdravstvenim politikama razradila smjernice za trijažu i indiciranje ehokardiografskih pregleda.1,2,3 Osim velikog broja zahtjeva, u Hrvatskoj je zamjetan i nesrazmjer u broju zahtjeva i dostupnih resursa ehokardiografske dijagnostike. U cilju pružanja prijeko potrebne i pravodobne zdravstvene skrbi pojavljuje se potreba za standardiziranjem ehokardiografske dostupnosti na temelju definiranih kriterija stručnog probira u indiciranju pregleda i određivanjem stručno prihvatljivih vremenskih okvira do provedbe ehokardiografske pretrage. Radna skupina za ehokardiografiju Ministarstva zdravstva Republike Hrvatske i Radna skupina za ehokardiografiju Hrvatskoga kardiološkog društva pripremila je smjernice za indikacije i trijažu zahtjeva za TTE u odraslih u suradnji s Hrvatskim kardiološkim društvom, a u skladu s važećim smjernicama Europskoga ehokardiografskog društva i suvremenom kardiološkom praksom, uzimajući u obzir nacionalnu bazu podataka o indikacijama ehokardiografskih pregleda. Navedene Smjernice primjenjive su na svim razinama zdravstvene zaštite i obuhvaćaju najčešća stanja i dijagnoze zbog kojih se bolesnici upućuju na tu pretragu.
Summary

Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is a basic imaging and functional diagnostic method in cardiology with a wide scope of cardiac diagnoses and monitoring cardiac treatment. In addition to cardiology, the need in the clinical practice of other branches of clinical medicine is growing. Very wide application and nonstandardized referral criteria have led to a high demand for echocardiography. At the same time, there is a growing disproportion in the ratio of unjustified requirements and clear clinical benefits for the patient from timely echocardiographic diagnostics. This is a problem of a global character, and international echocardiographic societies, in cooperation with national health policies, have developed guidelines for triage and indication for echocardiographic examinations (1, 2, 3). In addition to the large number of requests, there is also a noticeable disproportion in the number of requests and available resources for echocardiographic diagnostics in Croatia. In order to provide needed and timely health care, there is a need to standardize echocardiographic availability based on defined criteria for professional screening and indicating examinations as well as determining professionally acceptable time frames of echocardiographic examination. The Working Group for Echocardiography of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Croatia and the Working Group for Echocardiography and Imaging Modalities of the Croatian Cardiac Society have proposed guidelines for indications and triage of applications for TTE in adults in cooperation with the Croatian Cardiac Society, in accordance with the current guidelines of the European Echocardiographic Society and modern cardiology practice, taking into account national health care database. These guidelines are applicable at all levels of health care and include the most common conditions and diagnoses for which patients are referred for this examination.

Volumen: 11-12, 2025

Liječ Vjesn 2025;147:375–392

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