Welcome to POCUS Journal

POCUS Journal is a free, open-access, peer-reviewed publication that contains original research, case reports, and protocols on point of care ultrasound.

A publication of CINQUILL Medical Publishers Inc., POCUS Journal publishes online biannually in April and November. We invite submissions from clinicians, researchers, and POCUS educators. Read the latest issue of POCUS Journal or visit the archive for past issues.

Explore our Education section to learn about POCUS, and stay up to date with our latest Podcasts.

POCUS Journal is indexed on PubMed Central.

If you would like to become a contributor or have your research featured in POCUS Journal, please visit our Author Center for submission guidelines. For all other inquiries, please use our contact form, thanks.

This Issue of POCUS Journal is Sponsored by GE Healthcare

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Articles in this issue

Commentary

Inside the April 2023 Issue

Benjamin T. Galen, MD - With this April issue, we are pleased to announce that POCUS Journal has been recently indexed on PubMed, providing us with the opportunity to reach a wider audience and showcase our high-quality scholarship to the global medical community. We are thrilled to join the ranks of other top-tier journals indexed [...]

Letter

We Don’t Talk Enough About Overuse Injuries in Clinicians Using POCUS

Traci Fox, EdD, RT(R), RDMS, RVT; Kaylah Maloney, MD; Arthur Au, MD; Resa E Lewiss, MD - The hospital is full of clinicians working with poor ergonomic form. In the emergency department, for example, this includes and is not limited to clinicians bending over to place IVs and intubating patients. When it comes to ultrasound, [...]

Innovations in POCUS Curriculum

“Teaching old dogs new tricks” – POCUS Education for Senior Faculty

Daniel Restrepo, MD; Thomas F. Heyne, MD, MSt; Christine Schutzer, RT, BS, RDMS; Renee Dversdal, MD - Point of care Ultrasound (POCUS) is a growing diagnostic modality across a variety of specialties and is increasingly being taught in undergraduate medical education. Uptake within internal medicine has been slow but is becoming more commonplace.

Innovations in POCUS Curriculum

Recommendations for POCUS Curriculum in Canadian Undergraduate Medical Education: Consensus from the Inaugural Seguin Canadian POCUS Education Conference

Sacha Weill, Daniel Armand Picard, Daniel J. Kim MD, Michael Y. Woo MD - Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) in Canadian undergraduate medical education (UGME) is limited. To address this paucity, the inaugural Seguin Canadian POCUS Education Conference hosted 14 of the 17 Canadian medical schools to develop a list of recommendations for POCUS education [...]

Case File

POCUS Confirmation of Intraosseous Line Placement: Visualization of Agitated Saline within the Right Heart in a Critically Ill Infant

Inbar S.Y. Plaut, MD; Zachary W. Binder, MD - Intraosseous (IO) line placement can be a life-saving procedure in the management of critically ill patients.  Confirmation of correct IO line placement can be difficult. Prior studies have examined the use of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) to confirm IO line placement by using power Doppler [...]

Case File

Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Presenting as a Subacute Cough

Eduardo Diaz, DO; Hanan Atia, MD; Brian Kohen, MD; Seth Lotterman, MD - The suprasternal aortic notch cardiac point of care ultrasound (POCUS) window is a useful view for evaluating thoracic aortic pathologies. However, it is not routinely included in the standard cardiac POCUS exam despite its ability to capture emergent pathologies such as aortic [...]

Case File

Acute Upper Extremity Arterial Occlusion Diagnosed on POCUS in the Emergency Department

Derrick Huang, MD; Jacob Ruzicka, MD; Leoh León, MD; Latha Ganti, MD, MS, MBA, FACEP - Upper extremity acute limb ischemia (ALI) is a limb-threatening and potentially lethal pathology that is most commonly caused by vascular embolization. Outcomes of limb ischemia are time-sensitive due to the correlation between a longer time from symptom onset to [...]

Case Report

A Case of Pediatric Sternal Fracture Diagnosed by POCUS

Takaaki Mori, MD, MRCPCH, MSc; Sung Shin Teng, MBBS, MRCPCH, FAMS - A previously healthy, 4-year-old boy visited our emergency department due to chest pain after a fall from a skate scooter. Physical examination revealed tenderness over the sternal body. Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) of the sternum demonstrated a discontinuation of a hyperechoic structure [...]

Case Report

Use Of POCUS for the Paediatric Patient with an Undifferentiated Upper Limb Injury

David J. McCreary, MBBS MRCPCH PgC US; Alex White, MBBS - A 2-year-old girl presented to the Paediatric Emergency Department following an unwitnessed injury to her left arm while playing at nursery limiting further examination. On assessment she was reluctant to use her left arm and further examination was difficult. In cases of unwitnessed and [...]

Delayed Iatrogenic Bladder Rupture Diagnosed by POCUS in the Emergency Department

Helen J. Lu, MD; Edward H. Lee, MD; Stephen Alerhand, MD - Bladder rupture is an uncommon injury that leads to significant morbidity and mortality. Though occurring mostly due to trauma, this life-threatening pathology may also occur spontaneously or after a procedure such as transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT). Computed tomography (CT) cystography is [...]

Case Report

Missing Inferior Vena Cava on POCUS: A Case of Left-Sided IVC with Azygos Continuation

Ankit Mehta, MD, FACP, SFHM; Kreegan Reierson, MD; Benji Mathews, MD, MBA, SFHM - The merits of utilizing point of care ultrasound (POCUS) in acutely ill patients is leading to a widespread embrace. Assessment of IVC via POCUS as part of a comprehensive multi-organ approach can help guide volume tolerance. Anatomical/developmental variations of IVC can [...]

Case Report

Sonographic Features of a Tuberculous Cold Abscess:A Case Report and Literature Review

Figure 3: Axial view of the plain CT thorax showing low density collection in the pectoralis major muscle of the left hemithorax (a) with underlying costochondral junction showing break in cortex (b). - Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global public health concern; most notably in endemic countries where there is a rise in its incidence. Although [...]

Research

Lung Ultrasound and Caval Indices to Assess Volume Status in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients

Mujtaba Z. Al-Saray, MD; Ala Ali, MD - Volume overload is common in end stage kidney disease (ESKD) and dialysis patients. Hence, the need for objective tools to detect such volume excess. Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) is a goal-directed, bedside examination to answer such a specific diagnostic question.

Research

Virtual Supervision of Third Year Medical Students Using Handheld POCUS Devices and Cloud-based Image Archiving Provides Opportunity for Feedback and Skill Improvement

Sydney Murray, BSc; Krista Trinder, MSc; Linden Kolbenson, MD; Jeremy Katulka, MD; Paul Olszynski, MD, MEd - Feedback on Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) skills is essential for skill development. Providing feedback can be difficult in a large province with several distributed medical education sites. Use of handheld POCUS devices and a cloud-based image archiving [...]

Research

A Longitudinal Evaluation of a Multimodal POCUS Curriculum in Pediatric Residents

Reshma Sabnani, MD; Celia S. Willard, MD; Carolina Vega, MD; Zachary W. Binder MD - Pediatric residency programs often do not include a point of care ultrasound (POCUS) curriculum.  We analyzed a novel POCUS curriculum for pediatric residents that incorporated an online question bank (QB), in addition to a traditional teaching model of didactic instruction [...]

Research

The Frequency of POCUS in the Treatment of Sepsis in the Emergency Department: A Retrospective Cohort Study

M. Bryan Dalla Betta, DO; Dasia Esener, MD; William Swanson, MD; Andrew Kaddis, MD; Felipe Aguayo Romero, MD; J. Matthew Fields, MD - Sepsis is a syndrome characterized by infection, widespread inflammation and organ dysfunction affecting millions of people in the United States and across the globe each year. Despite recent improvements in sepsis care, it [...]

Research

Lessons Learned from POCUS Instruction in Undergraduate Medicine During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sherwin Wong, BHSc, MD; Salwa Nihal, MD(MBBS), MPhil, MSc; Danny Yu Jia Ke, BSc; Emma Neary; Luke Wu MD, MSc; Edwin Ocran, MBChB MSc; Michael Cenkowski, MD, FRCPC; Nicholas Grubic, BScH, MSc; Stephen C. Pang, PhD; Amer M. Johri MD, MSc, FRCPC, FASE - In response to the growing demand for bedside ultrasound skills, medical schools [...]

Review

POCUS for Diastolic Dysfunction: A Review of the Literature

Samantha A. King, MD; Alexis Salerno, MD; Jessica V. Downing, MD; Zachary R. Wynne, MD; Jordan T. Parker, MD; Taylor E. Miller, MD; Semhar Z. Tewelde, MD - Emergency and critical care physicians frequently encounter patients presenting with dyspnea and normal left ventricular systolic function who may benefit from early diastolic evaluation to determine acute [...]

Study Protocol

Evaluation Of Congestion Levels in Septic Patients Admitted to Critical Care Units with a Combined Venous Excess-Lung Ultrasound Score (VExLUS) – a Research Protocol

Miguel Romano, MD; Eduardo Viana, MS; José Diogo Martins, MD; Rogério Corga da Silva, MD - Sepsis is defined as a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection with a high mortality rate. Septic shock is a subset of sepsis with manifest circulatory dysfunction (use of vasopressors and persistent elevation of [...]