POCUS Journal

Commentary

Inside the April 2025 10 Year Anniversary Issue

Benjamin T. Galen; Amer M. Johri; Casey Glass - This current issue, published in April 2025, marks the 10th year that the world’s leading point-of-care ultrasound journal has been bringing the POCUS community together.

Letter

In Memoriam – Dr. James Kirkpatrick

Amer M. Johri; Nova Panebianco; Benjamin Galen - It is with great sadness that we remark upon the passing of Dr. James Kirkpatrick in this issue of the POCUS Journal. Jim was widely admired and respected in the POCUS community for his enthusiasm towards point of care imaging and his embrace of learners and colleagues [...]

Letter

The Expanding Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Paradigm

Katie Wiskar - Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) is an ever-evolving technology that has become integral to clinical practice in a variety of domains. Since its inception in Emergency Medicine (EM) in the 1980s, POCUS has traditionally been viewed as a tool to make binary decisions in response to focused clinical questions.

Innovations in POCUS Curriculum

Seeing Ghosts: A Quality Improvement Intervention to Decrease Phantom Scanning Through Increased Image Archiving of POCUS by Internal Medicine Residents

Linden Kolbenson; Talha Salman; Amanda Oro; Paul Olszynski - Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is used in internal medicine (IM) to augment clinical decision making and improve procedural safety. Institutionally-supported archiving software can help learners track scan numbers and receive feedback on image acquisition and interpretation.

Innovations in POCUS Curriculum

Evaluation of an International Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Training Program for Internal Medicine Physicians

Katherine Otto Chebly; Elizabeth Hernández; Mary Cifelli; Michael Janjigian - This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the program on UCV learners’ POCUS knowledge and skills, in comparison with outcomes from learners of a similar curriculum at NYU, and the local acceptability of the program to participating learners.

Innovations in POCUS Curriculum

Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Applications Taught Within Canadian Internal Medicine Residency Programs: Results of a National Survey

Ryan Marinovich; Michael G. R. Beyaert; Steven J. Montague; Irene W. Y. Ma; Luke A. Devine - Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is an important tool for bedside diagnostics and procedures within internal medicine. In 2017 the Canadian Internal Medicine Ultrasound (CIMUS) group provided recommendations for applications to teach POCUS to internal medicine trainees. The [...]

Innovations in POCUS Curriculum

Building a Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Curriculum in Undergraduate Medical Education Through Stepwise Development and Assessment

Nancy L. Hagood; Romik Srivastava; Marc E. Heincelman; Meghan K. Thomas - Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) training is increasingly incorporated in undergraduate medical education (UME). However, limited resources and lack of standard guidelines lead to questions regarding the most effective curriculum and assessment method. The authors aimed to develop a longitudinal UME POCUS curriculum [...]

Cardiac POCUS

Performance of the Cardiovascular Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Exam by Internal Medicine Residents

Christopher Chew; Katherine Lang; Manuel De La Rosa; Amanda K. Bertram; Ariella Apfel Stein; Apurva Sharma; Timothy M. Niessen; Brian T. Garibaldi - The purposes of this study were to determine the overall proficiency of internal medicine interns in performing cardiovascular POCUS, assess how POCUS skills relate to traditional cardiovascular physical exam skills, and examine how [...]

Cardiac POCUS

Demonstrating Feasibility of Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)-Guided Inpatient Transthoracic Echo Triage Decision Pathway

Stephanie M. Conner; Mustafa Husaini; Maya Fiore; Mohamed Ramadan; Benjamin Hoemann; Nicholas Arnold; Farhan Katchi; Crystal Atwood; Carol Faulk; Karl Wallenkampf; Jing Li - Prolonged inpatient length of stay (LOS) is associated with worse clinical outcomes and increased healthcare costs. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is commonly utilized in cardiac evaluation of hospital inpatients but is associated [...]

Cardiac POCUS

Troubleshooting Transvenous Pacemakers with Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

Emily Gohde; Seth Lotterman; Ikram Irfanullah; David Hansen; Felix Pacheco; Adam Wise; Matthew Tichauer; Trent She - We discuss two cases that illustrate the utility of POCUS in troubleshooting unsuccessful or difficult TVP placements. Thereafter, we describe a workflow for future TVP placements and offer some troubleshooting tips.

Cardiac POCUS

Point of Care Transesophageal Echocardiogram-Guided CPR: Area of Maximal Compression

Yannis Amador - A 77-year-old man scheduled for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) experienced cardiac arrest immediately following the induction of anesthesia. His medical history was significant for hypertension, type II diabetes mellitus, and triple-vessel coronary artery disease with a proximal left main occlusion.

Cardiac POCUS

Perforation of the Interventricular Septum by a Temporary Transvenous Pacing Lead Detected by Cardiac Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

Pablo Blanco; Liliana Figueroa - A 63-year-old woman was admitted with symptomatic complete atrioventricular block. Her medical history was notable for arterial hypertension, managed with enalapril. A TTP was successfully placed via the right internal jugular vein under the guidance of POCUS and intracavitary electrocardiogram (ECG), following this procedure:...

Cardiac POCUS

A Right Turn in Diagnosis: Highlighting the Importance of TAPSE in Isolated Right Ventricular Myocardial Infarction

Vasudha Dinesh; Arun A. Mohanan; Amaravathi Uthayakumar; Vinodha Chandrashekar - A 65-year-old man with a history of chronic tobacco and alcohol use but no known comorbidities presented to the emergency department with acute chest pain lasting three hours. The pain was central, tight, and radiated to the left arm, and was accompanied by profuse sweating.

Cardiac POCUS

Cardiac Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Used to Diagnose Infective Endocarditis Following Multiple Negative Echocardiograms

Adriano Sanjuan; Daniel S Brenner; Heather Andrade; Alyson Bundy; Philip Clapham; Nathan Markus; Irina K Hariri; Edwin Jackson - We present a case of a 68-year-old African American man with a history of housing insecurity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic hypoxic respiratory failure, heart failure with mildly reduced ejection fraction, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, opioid [...]

Vascular POCUS

Health System Impact of Emergency Department-based Vascular Access Program in Patients with Difficult Intravenous Access

Nathan P. Roll; Shilpa Raju; Micah Ownbey; Jamal Jones; Christy Hopkins; Jennifer Cotton - We describe the impact of an Emergency Department (ED) based vascular access program with a specialized team of paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs). This team is trained in USG PIV access to assist with patients that have difficult intravenous access [...]

Vascular POCUS

The Sound of Safety: DIVOT (Doppler Imaging for Vascular Orientation in Thoracic Procedures) Protocol

Amy Fraser; Daniel S. Brenner; Matthew Coghlan;Heather Andrade; Maya Haouili; William Graham Carlos; Edwin Jackson - This protocol provides comprehensive procedural guidance to minimize the risk of hemorrhagic complications associated with thoracentesis and percutaneous chest tube placement, supporting our commitment to eliminating preventable harm.

Vascular POCUS

A Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Artifact Mimicking an Aortic Dissection: A Case Series

Olivia Klee; Julia Buechler; Molly Fears; Caroline Gosser; Kahra Nix - In this case series, we describe an artifact that mimics a dissection involving the abdominal aorta that was found on a young, healthy, thin female medical student who was acting as a standardized patient. A radiology-performed ultrasound of her abdomen confirmed the abdominal aorta [...]

Lung POCUS

Interrater Agreement of Physicians Identifying Lung Sliding Artifact on B-Mode And M-Mode Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

Ross Prager; Hans Clausdorff Fiedler; Delaney Smith; Derek Wu; Robert Arntfield - Chest point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is a first-line diagnostic test to identify lung sliding, an important artifact to diagnose or rule out pneumothorax. Despite enthusiastic adoption of this modality, the interrater reliability for physicians to identify lung sliding is unknown.

Lung POCUS

Rib Reverberation: An Important New Artifact in Lung Ultrasound

Yulei Cao; Jennifer K. Sun; Cameron M. Baston - We present a case report describing horizontal sonographic artifacts that resemble A-lines generated by a rib.

Head and Neck POCUS

Parotid Sialolithiasis Diagnosed on Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

Heather Lystad; Elaine Yu; Rachna Subramony - A 58-year-old woman with a past medical history of irritable bowel syndrome presented to the emergency department due to gradual swelling and pain on the left side of her face for three weeks. She also reported feeling a lump on her inner cheek. The patient experienced worsened swelling, [...]

Ocular POCUS

Acute Traumatic Cataract Diagnosed by Ocular Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) in the Emergency Department

Adrian Huffard; Shannon Overholt; Angelo Kantrales; Taryn Hoffman - A 66-year-old man presented to the emergency department as a level one trauma activation following a bicycle accident. He had dynamic weakness of upper extremities and was ultimately found to have a cervical spinal cord injury.

Musculoskeletal and Soft Tissue POCUS

What Lies Beneath? Using Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) to Identify Soft Tissue Foreign Bodies in Children and Adults: A Literature Review

David McCreary; Bhaskar Sarvesh; Maria Munir - We aimed to evaluate and appraise the existing evidence on the use of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) for identifying soft tissue foreign bodies (FBs).

Musculoskeletal and Soft Tissue POCUS

You’ve Gotten Under my Skin: How to Make a Simple, Non-Perishable, Low-Cost Soft Tissue Infection Ultrasound Simulator

John Barrett; Christy Moore; Jeffrey A. Kramer; Nova Panebianco - We describe how to make an ultrasound compatible, low-cost, non-perishable, durable skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI) phantom model that simulates multiple pathologies including abscess and necrotizing fasciitis. The SSTI simulator has an extended shelf-life, can be recreated, and can serve as a needle aspiration [...]

Gastrointestinal POCUS

Man with Abdominal Bloating, Weight Loss

Sara Greenwald; Mario Ramos; Brian Kohen - In this case file, we describe a 69-year-old man presenting with nausea, vomiting, left upper quadrant abdominal pain and recent weight loss who had findings concerning for intussusception on POCUS. This led the emergency provider to order computed tomography (CT) which confirmed the diagnosis.

Gastrointestinal POCUS

Point of Care Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound Utility in the Diagnosis of a Gallbladder Perforation: A Case Report

Lauren Lu; Rebecca Leff; Tobias Kummer - A 61-year-old woman with metastatic ovarian cancer presented to the ED with evidence of localized gallbladder perforation with abscess development on an outpatient CT scan obtained as part of a routine consultation for her ovarian cancer. CT abdomen/pelvis with intravenous contrast revealed thickened nodular enhancement on the wall [...]

Gastrointestinal POCUS

Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Used to Rapidly Diagnose Both Renal Colic and a Symptomatic Abdominal  Aortic Aneurysm in an Elderly Man with Left Flank Pain

Rie Seu; Ariella Gartenberg; Rachel Mirsky; Aamir Bandagi; Nicole J. Leonard-Shiu; Reema Panjwani; Nora McNulty ;Trevor Dixon; Michelle A. Montenegro ; Michael Halperin - A 70-year-old man with a history of tobacco use, hypertension, nephrolithiasis, chronic systolic heart failure, and recent diagnosis of a 5 cm infrarenal AAA one-month prior presented to the emergency department [...]

Genitourinary POCUS

The Prevalence of Systemic Venous Congestion Post Kidney Transplant Detected by Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

Santiago Beltramino; Agustín Manchado Bruno; Damián Fernández; Javier Walther; Gustavo Werber - Systemic venous congestion is a known cause of acute kidney injury (AKI), but its presence in kidney transplant patients has not been previously described in the literature. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of systemic venous congestion in recent [...]

Pediatric POCUS

Comparison of Six Handheld Ultrasound Devices by Pediatric Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Experts

Stephanie K. Leung; Ria Dancel; Riya N. Soni; Ariadna Perez-Sanchez; Michael J. Mader; Haitham Al-Wahab; Thomas W. Conlon; Maria V. Fraga; Javier J. Lasa; Andrea Matho; Hannah Smith; Nilam J. Soni - The primary objective of this study was to compare the image quality, ease of use, and overall satisfaction of six handhelds available in [...]

Pediatric POCUS

A Train-the-Trainer Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Program for Pediatric Pneumonia in a Low-Resource Setting

Michelle S. Lee; Fatima Mir; Amerta Ladhani; Huba Atiq; Shaun K. Morris; Mark O. Tessaro - This study aimed to 1. Deliver a train-the-trainer program in Pakistan on lung POCUS for diagnosing pediatric pneumonia; 2. Determine inter-rater reliability between i) study-trained community health workers (CHWs) and a remote expert, with both interpreting POCUS examinations acquired [...]

Pediatric POCUS

The Utilization of Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) for the Confirmation of Gastric and Post-Pyloric Feeding Tube Placement in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Alonso Marron, Michael S. Wolf, Marla Levine, Jeremy S. Boyd, Marta Hernanz-Schulman - The aim of this study was to investigate the role of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) as an alternative imaging modality to confirm the location of gastric and post-pyloric feeding tubes in patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). This [...]

Pediatric POCUS

What is the Role of Point of Care Ultrasound for Suspected Pulled Elbow in Children? A Narrative Literature Review.

Salmah Lashhab; David J. McCreary - Our objective was to evaluate and appraise the existing evidence on the use of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) for pulled elbow, including its positive findings and their reliability.

Pediatric POCUS

Cor Triatriatum in a Pediatric Patient, Accidental Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Discovery

Tareq Alhaddad; Amr Hamid; Abdulbaset Mohammed; Hana Mohsen - We discuss the case of a 4-year-old girl diagnosed with cor triatriatum, who was admitted to the emergency room exhibiting symptoms of pneumonia and poor weight gain. A point of care ultrasound (POCUS) test revealed a membrane in the left atrium.

Pediatric POCUS

Identification of Pediatric Retrocecal Appendicitis Using Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

Carl Kaplan; Raizada Vaid; Michael Secko - A 16-year-old girl without significant past medical history presents to the ED with RLQ abdominal pain for one day, radiating to the umbilicus. The pain was worse with right leg movement and walking – associated with one episode of non-bloody, non-bilious emesis.

Pediatric POCUS

Fibromatosis Colli on Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS): A Case Report

Jeff Yang; Christine Rizkalla - A 26-day-old boy born at 39 weeks, 5 days via normal spontaneous vaginal delivery was referred to the pediatric emergency department by his pediatrician for evaluation of a left-sided neck mass.