Auscultate Obese Patients Using Electronic and Traditional Stethoscopes

Study EM-05-012530 Benefit of Auscultation With 3M™ Littmann® 3200 Electronic Stethoscope to Diagnose Murmurs and Heart Pathologies in Overweight and Obese Patients With Increased Layers of Adipose Tissue

Auscultating Obese patients using the 3M Littmann Electronic Model 3200 Stethoscope is more effective in identifying referrable murmurs than using a traditional stethoscope.

Study will enroll subjects who have greater than 30 BMI ratings. Each subject will receive 4 auscultation examinations. Two auscultations will be done by a cardiologist using both an acoustic traditional stethoscope and an electronic stethoscope. Two additional auscultations will be done by a 3rd year medical resident also using both an acoustic traditional stethoscope and an electronic stethoscope. All determinations will be compared to echocardiography results.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Greater or equal than 18 years of age
• Referred for an echocardiogram
• obese, as defined as having a BMI greater than 30
• volunteers to participate in study
• agrees to provide copy of echocardiogram exam report

Exclusion Criteria:

-Investigator believes subject should not be included or is unsuitable for inclusion