Abstract: An integrated, hand-held apparatus for acquiring diagnostic and prognostic information from a patient at the bedside or at some other patient location, the apparatus including a wand with a microphone for acquiring sound information from the patient and an ultrasound emitter/receiver for acquiring image data from the patient, a base unit including a speaker for presenting sound information to a user and a display for presenting image information to a user, and transferring the sound information acquired by the microphone and the image information acquired by the ultrasound emitter/receiver from the wand to the base unit.

Abstract: A method of early detection and diagnosis of coronary artery disease in a patient comprising a) inducing cardiac stress in the patient by either exercise or pharmacological agents; and b) measuring the patient's BNP level before and after said cardiac stress. Additionally, there is provided a method of risk stratification of severity of coronary artery disease.