COVID-19 Severity
What Can POCUS Tell Us?
By Michael Prats on 09/14/20 04:00 AM
We haven't discussed COVID-19 for a long time, despite the explosion of POCUS articles on how ultrasound can be used during this pandemic. Many of the articles have focused on the accuracy of POCUS for making the diagnosis, or comparing the ultrasound findings to those on CT. These are helpful, but now what we really want are studies that help establish that POCUS is helping with delivering patient care - either diagnostically or prognostically. This article seems to take the first step in this direction by examining the prognostic utility of lung ultrasound in this disease. https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/98 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32728966/
Return of the Aortic Dissection
POCUS Accuracy and Time
By Michael Prats on 08/31/20 05:00 AM
We are making some headway in the evidence behind using point-of-care ultrasound in aortic emergencies. This study takes a look at sensitivity and specificity for acute aortic dissection (which has been a few times before) and also compares POCUS to a control group to see if it causes delays or improves times to diagnosis or treatment (has not been done prospectively before). They even look at mortality! https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/97 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31971274/
Shoulder Dislocation Revisited
A Better Way to Diagnose?
By Michael Prats on 08/03/20 05:00 AM
People have been using POCUS to diagnosis shoulder dislocation for a while now, although it is far from standard of care in most places. We have seen that it is really accurate compared to xray, but this well-done study adds some important information to the existing literature. They measure the glenohumeral distance in an attempt to make a quantifiable cut-off point for dislocation. They also take a look at potential time savings of ultrasound compared to xray! https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/96 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32111508