Toward the ‘Shazam-Like’ Identification of Valve Diseases with Digital Auscultation?

We read with great interest the systematic review by Thomas et al1 highlighting the limitations of cardiac auscultation and the accuracy and efficacy of hand-held echocardiography in diagnosing valve disease. We fully agree that auscultation is not mastered as it should be by many clinicians, particularly non-cardiologists, and is of limited value in several clinical situations (e.g. in patients with lung emphysema or in noisy environment). We also agree that recent technological improvements have made echocardiographic evaluations much easier and that echo probes may ultimately replace classical stethoscopes in our pockets.