SonoStudy: The “ICU-sound” Protocol – Ultrasound revealed unsuspected clinical anomalies, changed management

You have to love the Italians! They are one of the best users and researchers of bedside ultrasound, particularly in the emergency department and ICUs. This was the newest study in the journal of Anesthesiology. In a prior post, we discussed how bedside ultrasound of the heart and IVC changed medical management of septic patients, and the studies just keep on coming….

Medscape has done a nice interview and assessment of this study as well: “Head-to-toe bedside ultrasound within 12 hours of intensive care unit (ICU) admission modified the admitting diagnosis in more than one quarter of the patients studied and confirmed it in more than half of the patients studied”

SonoStudy: an evidence based approach to the RUSH exam…

Since it’s RUSH week and we have presented a case yesterday of how the RUSH exam helped show the etiology of unexplained shock in critical situations, I thought Id look through the research before during and after the RUSH exam was described to see where its base was, how it was proven, and what the future of RUSH may hold…

SonoStudy (and Case): 53% of septic patients’ treatment plans changed after seeing the IVC and cardiac contractility

The study coming out in Annals of Emergency Medicine in June done by Haydar et al “found point-of-care ultrasonographic data about cardiac contractility, inferior vena cava diameter, and inferior vena cava collapsibility to be clinically useful in treating adult patients with sepsis” – for those of us who use US regularly to evaluate patients in shock, whether it’s by using the RUSH protocol or evaluating the initial and post-fluid volume status for those we are trying to resuscitate when septic, it’s no big surprise. What is the surprising aspect of this is that 53% of septic patients’ treatment plans had changed due to the findings by ultrasound of cardiac contractility and IVC appearance.