Troubleshooting Paracentesis Using POCUS

Angelina Voronina; Nachele Aurelien; Edward Bergin; Paula Roy-Burman – Paracentesis is a procedure routinely performed at the bedside in the evaluation and management of ascites. While point of care ultrasound (POCUS) assistance during paracentesis is known to reduce the risk of procedure-related complications, intraprocedural POCUS to overcome commonly occurring issues, such as obstructed flow through the centesis catheter, remain poorly described.

Case File: Point-of-care ultrasound should end the outdated practice of “marking for a tap”

by Anna Platovsky, MD and Benjamin T. Galen, MD

A 55 year old man with a history of alcoholic cirrhosis decompensated by esophageal varices status post banding presented to the emergency room with abdominal pain.  He also noted increased abdominal girth with associated poor oral intake and early satiety as well as a 10 lb. weight gain over 2 weeks.  On examination, the patient was afebrile with stable vital signs and no respiratory distress.  His abdominal examination revealed tense ascites with mild tenderness to palpation of the left upper quadrant.  There was no jaundice or asterixis. Laboratory testing was significant for mild thrombocytopenia but no leukocytosis or abnormal liver tests. Liver synthetic function was preserved.