Ethiopian cardiovascular studies. Case-finding by mass miniature radiography

Abstract

No large series of patients with cardiovascular disease has yet been reported from Ethiopia, where only limited means for investigation are at present available. The authors therefore studied the types of heart disease detected by mass miniature radiography in a largely self-selected population at the Addis Ababa Tuberculosis Centre, and examined the value of this method of cardiac case-finding. Rheumatic heart disease occurred in 34.8% of patients, but syphilitic aortitis, hypertension, "cardiomyopathy" and tuberculous pericarditis were also common. Endomyocardial fibrosis was not seen; this may be a further significant fact in the search for its cause. Mass miniature radiography is valuable for detecting symptomatic patients with the cardiovascular diseases mentioned above. The technique described in this paper could be used in other developing countries as it uses a single method of screening for 2 groups of diseases.