Jugular venous pressure (JVP) in adults with heart failure can be reliably assessed using smartphone video, researchers report. 

US researchers compared JVP estimates performed at the bedside and remotely over video chat in a convenience sample of 31 adults with heart failure and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction whose clinical care required right heart catheterisation. 

Each patient had one bedside measurement of JVP and then up to four remote measurements using a smartphone before having their right atrial pressure measured on the same day during their catheterisation procedure. 

“A bedside house staff member moved the smartphone, repositioned the patient’s head and the angle of the patient’s body off the horizontal, and … held up a ruler, as directed by the remote evaluator,” the authors explained.