Article Categories: 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 patient management. The current American Society of Echocardiography Guidelines approach to diastolic evaluation is often impractical for point of care ultrasound (POCUS) evaluation, and few studies have evaluated the potential use of a simplified approach.

Pictorial Essay of Cervical Duplex Ultrasonography

Siddharth Bhattacharjee, MBBS, MRCP (UK); Richa D. Jain, MD; Lokesh Bathala, DM; Anuradha HK, DM; Vijay K. Sharma, MD – Cervical duplex ultrasonography (CDU) is a simple, non-invasive, portable technique, that provides valuable high-quality visual information about the integrity of the carotid and vertebral vessels, plaque morphology and flow hemodynamics.

Ultrasonography in Acute Kidney Injury

Andrew A. Moses, MD MA; Hilda E. Fernandez, MD – Advances in the use of ultrasonography can enhance our ability to better characterize acute kidney injury (AKI). AKI is a clinical syndrome characterized by a rapid decrease in kidney excretory function with the accumulation of products of nitrogen metabolism and other clinically unmeasured waste products, and may proceed to include clinical manifestations including decreased urine output, development of metabolic acidosis, and electrolyte abnormalities.

Focused Cardiac Assessment in Kidney Care

Vineet Veitla, MD; Bhavna Bhasin, MD – Point of care ultrasonography (POCUS) is considered to be a very useful and informative extension of the bedside physical exam. The information obtained from POCUS allows for real time assessment for expedited decision making to improve efficiency in patient care and management.

POCUS in Intensive Care Nephrology

Randi Connor-Schuler, MD; Jonathan Suarez, MD – Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a significant problem for patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), both due to the high incidence and associated mortality with rates of AKI requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT) of over 5%, and mortality rates with AKI of over 60%.

Role of Point of Care Ultrasonography in Patients with COVID-19 Associated Acute Kidney Injury

Daniel W. Ross, MD; Zubair Hasan, MD – The severe acute respiratory virus covariate-2 (SARS CoV-2) that causes Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected more than 194 million people worldwide and has attributed to or caused more than 4 million deaths. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication of COVID-19. Point of care ultrasonography (POCUS) can be a useful tool for the nephrologist.

Integrative Volume Status Assessment

David Kearney, MD; Nathaniel Reisinger, MD; Sadichhya Lohani, MBBS – Volume status assessment is a critical but challenging clinical skill and is especially important for the management of patients in the emergency department, intensive care unit, and dialysis unit where accurate intravascular assessment is necessary to guide appropriate fluid management. Assessment of volume status is subjective and can vary from provider to provider, posing clinical dilemmas.

Machine Learning in Point of Care Ultrasound

Momodou L. Sonko, BS; T. Campbell Arnold, BS; Ivan A. Kuznetsov, BS – When a patient presents to the ED, clinicians often turn to medical imaging to better understand their condition. Traditionally, imaging is collected from the patient and interpreted by a radiologist remotely. However, scanning devices are increasingly equipped with analytical software that can provide quantitative assessments at the patient’s bedside. These assessments often rely on machine learning algorithms as a means of interpreting medical images.

Nuts and Bolts of a POCUN Program

Noelle M. Northcutt, MD; Nathaniel C. Reisinger, MD – For those that have experienced how much point of care ultrasound can positively impact patient care, the potential of an organized point of care ultrasound program is moderated by the reality of building such a program from scratch. We have watched novice and intermediate users ride the roller coaster of ambition and reality checks at each of the hands-on skills sessions across the nation.

Bedside Assessment of the Kidneys and Bladder Using Point of Care Ultrasound

Patrick J. Taus, MD, PhD; Surya Manivannan, MD; Ria Dancel, MD – Given the contrasting echogenic characteristics of the urinary system and their easily identifiable distortion in response to numerous pathologic processes, the sonographic examination of the kidney and bladder can provide a wealth of clinical information. Although performed for decades as a referral and comprehensive radiologic study, improvement in the cost and performance of portable ultrasound devices has now made point of care ultrasound (POCUS) accessible to a growing number and variety of healthcare providers.