Why the study?
Does echocardiography improve the diagnostic accuracy of carditis compared to clinical diagnosis alone in patients with acute rheumatic fever?
Population
452 consecutive patients with acute rheumatic fever clinically diagnosed by strict Jones criteria.
Comparison
Echocardiography vs Clinical diagnosis based on strict Jones criteria
Design
Cohort, double blinded
Authors
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Supports echocardiography to refine carditis diagnosis in acute rheumatic fever; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective validation before practice change.
Does echocardiography improve the diagnostic accuracy of carditis compared to clinical diagnosis alone in patients with acute rheumatic fever?
Echocardiography significantly improves the diagnostic accuracy of carditis in acute rheumatic fever by identifying subclinical cases and ruling out functional murmurs.
Vijayalakshmi et al. (2005) studied this question.
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