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Point-of-care ultrasound diagnoses acute decompensated heart failure in the ED regardless of examination findings,☆☆,

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  • Cited by (6)

    • The Inter-rater Reliability of Echocardiographic Diastolic Function Evaluation Among Emergency Physician Sonographers

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      Because the physical examination and B-type natriuretic peptide measurements can be inaccurate, this may be used as an additional piece of information to aid in the diagnosis of left ventricular CHF (13–17). Previous studies have shown that emergency physicians can use point-of-care echocardiography to diagnose acute heart failure regardless of the physical examination findings, and that their findings can be 100% specific for the diagnosis when sonographic evaluation of the inferior vena cava and the pleura is performed in conjunction with the echocardiogram (18,19). Additionally, the caval index as a component of right heart evaluation has been found to be a useful adjunct in establishing the diagnosis of acute heart failure (20).

    • Diagnostic performance of cardiopulmonary ultrasound performed by the emergency physician in the management of acute dyspnea

      2015, American Journal of Emergency Medicine
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      By showing a B profile in 7% of our patients, lung ultrasound allowed to correct false-negative echocardiography (not increased LVFP) but had no benefit in cases of increased LVFP. It has been shown that, using 3 ultrasound modalities together (LVEF < 45%, inferior vena cava collapsability index < 20%, and B-line count in the entire thorax > 10), sensitivity and specificity for the presence of ALSHF were 36% and 100%, respectively [12,21]. In the emergency medicine setting, it is important to affirm but also to exclude the diagnosis of ALSHF.

    Sources of support: None to report.

    ☆☆

    Presentation: oral presentation at the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Annual Meeting, May 2010, Phoenix, AZ.

    The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the US Air Force, Department of Defense, or the US government.

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