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Table 1 Lists of various domains and preferred items

From: Systematic review and literature appraisal on methodology of conducting and reporting critical-care echocardiography studies: a report from the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine PRICES expert panel

 

Domains and items

Common to all topics

Study information (n = 3)

Study type, study design, sample size

Patients characteristics (n = 12)

Context

Age, gender, height and weight (or BMI)

History of hypertension, HFpEF, HFrEF, ischemic heart disease, atrial fibrillation, COPD, chronic renal failure, presence of pacemaker

Echocardiography information (n = 6)

Type of echocardiography; were data collected at end-expiration? Number of beats for data averaging? Was airway pressure trace displayed on screen?

Vendor of ultrasound machine and software version

Clinical information at the time of echocardiography (n = 10)

Mode of ventilation; if mechanically ventilated tidal volume, plateau pressure and positive end-expiratory pressure

Cardiac rhythm, heart rate, blood pressure; inotropes, vasopressors and their doses

Measurement reliability (n = 8)

Feasibility; intra-observer and inter-observer variability; was observer blinded to treatment?

Echocardiographer professional training and experience in echocardiography

Reviewer’s professional training and experience in echocardiography

Statistics reporting (n = 4)

Was sample size and power calculation provided? Was analysis blinded? Were confounders addressed? Was internal validation provided?

Topic-specific items

LV systolic function (n = 15)

LV size, LV ejection fraction, LV fractional area change, Tissue Doppler Sʹ velocity, MAPSE, LV dP/dt, LV Tei index, LV strain or strain rate, regional wall motion score

Cardiac output, stroke volume, presence of heart valve disease; patent foramen ovale; pericardial effusion, tamponade

RV function (n = 18)

RV end-diastolic diameter; RV end-diastolic area; RV-to-LV end-diastolic area ratio; TAPSE; RV fractional area change; tissue Doppler Sʹ velocity; RV Tei index; RV strain or strain rate; subjective rating of RV function; PAPs or TR peak velocity; PAAT

Patent foramen ovale; pericardial effusion; tamponade; RV wall thickness; paradoxical septal motion; IAS bowing; IVC diameter

LV diastolic function (n = 15)

E/A ratio; tissue Doppler Eʹ velocity; E/Eʹ ratio; PAPs or TR peak velocity; mitral E propagation velocity; mitral E deceleration time; pulmonary venous flow; left atrial size

Systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure; chronic medications; criteria used for grading diastolic function; guidelines or reference for criteria cited; technical details of measurements

Fluid management (n = 7)

Parameter used to predict FR, echocardiographic parameter to assess FR-to-volume challenge or passive leg raising

Was fluid responsiveness defined? Were technical details of measurements provided? Was reference (“gold”) standard for comparison stated? Was description of the reference standard provided? Was echocardiography used as reference standard?

Advanced echocardiography techniques (n = 17)

Types of strain used in LV study; strain or strain rate used in LV study; myocardial layer analysed for LV strain study; RV longitudinal strain, RV longitudinal strain rate; number of cycles used in analysis; start time in cardiac cycle used in analysis, frame rate; number of planes used in analysis; method of image exclusion, method of segments exclusion; details of image optimization method; drift correction used

Number of beats used in 3-D analysis; frame or volume rate used in 3-D analysis; timing of respiratory cycle in 3-D analysis; reference method in 3-D analysis

  1. Items are divided in common to all critical care echocardiography studies and those of particular interest in a specific topic
  2. BMI body mass index, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, FR fluid responsiveness, HFpEF heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, HFrEF heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, IAS inter-atrial septum, IVC inferior vena cava, LV left ventricle, MAPSE mitral annulus plan systolic excursion, PAPs pulmonary artery systolic pressure, PAAT pulmonary artery acceleration time, RV right ventricle, TAPSE tricuspid annular plan systolic excursion, TR tricuspid regurgitation