Items tagged “pocus”

Ultrasound of the knee allows high-resolution imaging of superficial knee anatomy while simultaneously allowing dynamic evaluation of some of the tendons and ligaments. Knee ultrasound is somewhat limited compared with ultrasound examinations of other joints because the cruciate ligaments and th...

Cardiovascular (cardiac) shunts are abnormal connections between the pulmonary and systemic circulations. Most commonly they are the result of congenital heart disease. Pathology Blood can either be shunted from the systemic circulation to pulmonary circulation (i.e. 'left-to-right shunt') or ...

Pneumothorax is a serious potential consequence of blunt thoracic trauma and, if misdiagnosed, it may quickly become life-threatening. For a discussion on epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathology, and treatment and prognosis please see the main pneumothorax article.  Radiographic feature...

Asteroid hyalosis is a degenerative condition of the eye where there is an accumulation of calcium soaps in the vitreous chamber. Epidemiology The prevalence increases with age from 0.2% in 43-54 year-olds to 2.9% in 75-86 year-olds. The overall prevalence is 1.2%. It is commonly unilateral an...

Choroidal detachment is a detachment of the choroid from the underlying sclera due to the accumulation of fluid in the suprachoroidal space generally due to increased intraocular pressure (IOP), as observed in some settings: choroidal effusion transudative: trauma exudative: fluid accumulatin...

An abdominal paracentesis (plural: paracenteses), more commonly referred to as an ascitic tap, is a procedure that can be performed to collect peritoneal fluid for analysis or as a therapeutic intervention. Indications diagnostic: especially for newly-diagnosed ascites determine etiology of a...

The rapid ultrasound in shock (RUSH) protocol is a structured point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) examination performed at the time of presentation of a shocked patient. It is a more detailed and longer exam than the FAST scan, with the aim to differentiate between hypovolemic, cardiogenic, obstruc...

This mnemonic will help with the sonographic approach to the critically ill patient with dyspnea: CHEST Mnemonic C: collapsed lung (pneumothorax)  absence of anterior lung sliding, lung pulse, B-lines, or z-lines these artifacts arise from the pleural interface; their presence would rule ou...

Peripheral intravenous cannulation under ultrasound guidance is the placement of a cannula into a peripherally-located vein under the direct vision of ultrasound. This process allows the cannulation of veins that are unable to be visualized or palpated without ultrasound. In trained individuals ...

Vitreous hemorrhage refers to bleeding into the vitreous humor. Epidemiology Vitreous hemorrhage has an incidence of approximately 7 in 100,000 1,2.   Clinical presentation The most common clinical presentation is with sudden, painless visual loss to varying degrees of severity 2. Associated...

The hepatic veins have a characteristic spectral Doppler waveform. Alterations in the normal hepatic vein waveform may reveal or confirm abnormalities in the heart or liver. Terminology The shape of the hepatic vein spectral Doppler waveform is primarily determined by pressure changes in the r...

Aortic valve regurgitation, also known as aortic valve insufficiency or aortic valve incompetence, is a valvulopathy that describes leaking of the aortic valve during diastole that causes blood to flow in the reverse direction from the aorta and into the left ventricle. Epidemiology Aortic reg...

Aorto-ventricular tunnel (AVT) is an extremely rare form of congenital heart disease, representing an anomalous extracardiac communication between the ascending aorta and the left or right ventricles. Terminology In most cases the anomalous communication is between the aorta and the left ventr...

Bedside lung ultrasound in emergency (BLUE) is a basic point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) examination performed for undifferentiated respiratory failure at the bedside, immediately after the physical examination, and before echocardiography. The protocol is simple and dichotomous, and takes fewer...

FATE (focus‐assessed transthoracic echocardiography) is a goal-directed protocol used in critical care for indications such as hemodynamic instability, shock, and pulseless electrical activity (PEA) arrest 1. The protocol is designed as a series of questions as follows: does the left ventri...

The point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) curriculum is one of our curriculum articles and aims to be a collection of articles that represent the core applications of ultrasonography in a point-of-care setting. Point-of-care ultrasound refers to ultrasonography which may be simultaneously performed,...

An interscalene brachial plexus block is indicated for procedures involving the shoulder and upper arm. History Ultrasound-guided brachial plexus nerve blocks entered the literature in 1989, when Ting et al. detailed their success with axillary nerve blocks in 10 patients 3. Indications r...

Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is a surrogate for left ventricular global systolic function, defined as the left ventricular stroke volume divided by the end-diastolic volume. Terminology Point-of-care echocardiography protocols typically use a semi-quantitative approach in defining...

The Carpentier classification divides mitral valve regurgitation into three types based on leaflet motion 1: type I: normal leaflet motion annular dilation, leaflet perforation regurgitation jet directed centrally type II: excessive leaflet motion papillary muscle rupture, chordal rupture, ...

Right ventricular function is often measured in point-of-care ultrasonography as a composite of the right ventricular size, wall measurements, and contractile efforts.  Terminology The right ventricle (RV) can be anatomically divided into an inflow portion, an outflow portion, and an apex. Con...