Real-world evaluation of the Stemoscope electronic tele-auscultation system
Abstract Background With the spread of COVID-19, telemedicine has played an important role, but tele-auscultation is still unavailable in most countries. This study introduces and tests a tele-auscultation system (Stemoscope) and compares the concordance of the Stemoscope with the traditional stetho...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2022-09-01
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| Series: | BioMedical Engineering OnLine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12938-022-01032-4 |
| _version_ | 1798002965457403904 |
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| author | Muge Fan Qiuli Wang Jiaqi Liu Lingyun Su Bingjian Wang Hai Xu Qing Li Zhi Zhang |
| author_facet | Muge Fan Qiuli Wang Jiaqi Liu Lingyun Su Bingjian Wang Hai Xu Qing Li Zhi Zhang |
| author_sort | Muge Fan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background With the spread of COVID-19, telemedicine has played an important role, but tele-auscultation is still unavailable in most countries. This study introduces and tests a tele-auscultation system (Stemoscope) and compares the concordance of the Stemoscope with the traditional stethoscope in the evaluation of heart murmurs. Methods A total of 57 patients with murmurs were recruited, and echocardiographs were performed. Three cardiologists were asked to correctly categorize heart sounds (both systolic murmur and diastolic murmur) as normal vs. abnormal with both the Stemoscope and a traditional acoustic stethoscope under different conditions. Firstly, we compared the in-person auscultation agreement between Stemoscope and the conventional acoustic stethoscope. Secondly, we compared tele-auscultation (recorded heart sounds) agreement between Stemoscope and acoustic results. Thirdly, we compared both the Stemoscope tele-auscultation results and traditional acoustic stethoscope in-person auscultation results with echocardiography. Finally, ten other cardiologists were asked to complete a qualitative questionnaire to assess their experience using the Stemoscope. Results For murmurs detection, the in-person auscultation agreement between Stemoscope and the acoustic stethoscope was 91% (p = 0.67). The agreement between Stemoscope tele-auscultation and the acoustic stethoscope in-person auscultation was 90% (p = 0.32). When using the echocardiographic findings as the reference, the agreement between Stemoscope (tele-auscultation) and the acoustic stethoscope (in-person auscultation) was 89% vs. 86% (p = 1.00). The system evaluated by ten cardiologists is considered easy to use, and most of them would consider using it in a telemedical setting. Conclusion In-person auscultation and tele-auscultation by the Stemoscope are in good agreement with manual acoustic auscultation. The Stemoscope is a helpful heart murmur screening tool at a distance and can be used in telemedicine. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T12:00:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-46ba28ab4af0463b97969b3aa6912916 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1475-925X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T12:00:43Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BioMedical Engineering OnLine |
| spelling | doaj.art-46ba28ab4af0463b97969b3aa69129162022-12-22T04:24:51ZengBMCBioMedical Engineering OnLine1475-925X2022-09-0121111410.1186/s12938-022-01032-4Real-world evaluation of the Stemoscope electronic tele-auscultation systemMuge Fan0Qiuli Wang1Jiaqi Liu2Lingyun Su3Bingjian Wang4Hai Xu5Qing Li6Zhi Zhang7Department of Cardiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine (Initially Named “Shanghai First People’s Hospital”)Department of Nursing, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine (Initially Named “Shanghai First People’s Hospital”)Department of Cardiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine (Initially Named “Shanghai First People’s Hospital”)Department of Cardiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine (Initially Named “Shanghai First People’s Hospital”)Department of Cardiology, Nanjing Medical University Affiliated with Huai’an First People’s Hospital, Huai’anDepartment of Cardiology, Nanjing Medical University Affiliated with Huai’an First People’s Hospital, Huai’anDepartment of Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine (Initially Named “Shanghai First People’s Hospital”)Department of Cardiology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine (Initially Named “Shanghai First People’s Hospital”)Abstract Background With the spread of COVID-19, telemedicine has played an important role, but tele-auscultation is still unavailable in most countries. This study introduces and tests a tele-auscultation system (Stemoscope) and compares the concordance of the Stemoscope with the traditional stethoscope in the evaluation of heart murmurs. Methods A total of 57 patients with murmurs were recruited, and echocardiographs were performed. Three cardiologists were asked to correctly categorize heart sounds (both systolic murmur and diastolic murmur) as normal vs. abnormal with both the Stemoscope and a traditional acoustic stethoscope under different conditions. Firstly, we compared the in-person auscultation agreement between Stemoscope and the conventional acoustic stethoscope. Secondly, we compared tele-auscultation (recorded heart sounds) agreement between Stemoscope and acoustic results. Thirdly, we compared both the Stemoscope tele-auscultation results and traditional acoustic stethoscope in-person auscultation results with echocardiography. Finally, ten other cardiologists were asked to complete a qualitative questionnaire to assess their experience using the Stemoscope. Results For murmurs detection, the in-person auscultation agreement between Stemoscope and the acoustic stethoscope was 91% (p = 0.67). The agreement between Stemoscope tele-auscultation and the acoustic stethoscope in-person auscultation was 90% (p = 0.32). When using the echocardiographic findings as the reference, the agreement between Stemoscope (tele-auscultation) and the acoustic stethoscope (in-person auscultation) was 89% vs. 86% (p = 1.00). The system evaluated by ten cardiologists is considered easy to use, and most of them would consider using it in a telemedical setting. Conclusion In-person auscultation and tele-auscultation by the Stemoscope are in good agreement with manual acoustic auscultation. The Stemoscope is a helpful heart murmur screening tool at a distance and can be used in telemedicine.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12938-022-01032-4Tele-auscultationAuscultationHeart murmurValvular heart diseasesElectronic stethoscope |
| spellingShingle | Muge Fan Qiuli Wang Jiaqi Liu Lingyun Su Bingjian Wang Hai Xu Qing Li Zhi Zhang Real-world evaluation of the Stemoscope electronic tele-auscultation system BioMedical Engineering OnLine Tele-auscultation Auscultation Heart murmur Valvular heart diseases Electronic stethoscope |
| title | Real-world evaluation of the Stemoscope electronic tele-auscultation system |
| title_full | Real-world evaluation of the Stemoscope electronic tele-auscultation system |
| title_fullStr | Real-world evaluation of the Stemoscope electronic tele-auscultation system |
| title_full_unstemmed | Real-world evaluation of the Stemoscope electronic tele-auscultation system |
| title_short | Real-world evaluation of the Stemoscope electronic tele-auscultation system |
| title_sort | real world evaluation of the stemoscope electronic tele auscultation system |
| topic | Tele-auscultation Auscultation Heart murmur Valvular heart diseases Electronic stethoscope |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12938-022-01032-4 |
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