Yashmeet Kaur
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Porag Das
Research Mentor School/College/Department: University of Michigan Medical School / Medicine
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 2 (10:00am – 10:50am)
Authors: Yashmeet Kaur, Anna Shinohara, Faraz Hassan, Omar Sohail, Karandeep Singh, Jeet Das
Abstract
Cardiac auscultation plays a critical role in a physical exam as it is often the first step in screening for valvular heart disease. Cardiac pathologies, such as stenosis or regurgitation, can manifest themselves as murmurs heard during auscultation. Despite its widespread use, however, auscultation has proven to not be the most accurate in diagnosing patients with a sensitivity ranging from 30% to 70%¹. Recently, electronic stethoscopes have become more common and have proven to be more sensitive than traditional auscultation. These electronic stethoscopes may improve the ability to detect heart pathology earlier, however, not many studies have analyzed the use of electronic stethoscopes on valvular disease. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the sound detectability of heart sounds and the severity of the valvular heart disease. Using digital stethoscopes, heart sounds were recorded on patients who had recently received an echocardiogram to determine the effect of valvular heart disease (aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation) on sound detectability. Preliminary analysis will reveal if the severity of valvular heart diseases affects sound detectability. Current and ongoing work needs to be done to continue analyzing the relationship between heart sounds and the severity of valvular heart disease, especially considering intensity of murmurs in order to improve and create effective screening methods for patients. This study, with the use of electronic stethoscopes and improving its sensitivity of valvular heart disease, will help further improve screening methods.
