Perioperative medicine & outcomes
The utility of focused transthoracic echocardiography in preoperative assessment: a systematic review and narrative synthesis of current evidence
Authors' conclusion
Preoperative fTTE is feasible and can identify clinically relevant cardiac and haemodynamic abnormalities and influence perioperative management.
Study context
- Population
- Patients undergoing preoperative assessment with focused transthoracic echocardiography (fTTE); cardiac surgery, examinations by cardiologists or cardiac physiologists, and intra- or postoperative examinations excluded
- Participants
- 3,728 patients · 35 studies
- Outcome
- Feasibility, diagnostic yield, accuracy, impact on management and clinical outcomes of preoperative fTTE
Methodological detailsindependent dual screening and data extraction, risk of bias assessed for comparative effectiveness studies
- Independent dual screening and data extraction
- Risk of bias assessed for comparative effectiveness studies
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
- Median feasibility
- 92.5%
- Examination time
- 3-16 min
- Cardiac abnormalities identified
- 22-64%
- Step-up change in management
- 48 (21-54) %
- Step-down change in management
- 20 (1-49) %
Further pooled results
Anaesthetic management, plans before vs after fTTE
- No overall change in anaesthetic management (3 studies); individual changes included increased arterial-line use and reduced postoperative ICU admission
Post-induction hypotension with echocardiography-guided pre-induction fluid therapy
- Reduced post-induction hypotension (4 RCTs)
Mortality or morbidity in emergency surgical populations vs standard care
- No improvement (3 RCTs)
Original publication
The utility of focused transthoracic echocardiography in preoperative assessment: a systematic review and narrative synthesis of current evidence. J Clin Monit Comput. Published 17 September 2026. doi:10.
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