Point-of-care ultrasonography in dyspnea

OBJECTIVES:

Is point-of-care (POC) lungultrasound (US) diagnostically useful in patients with suspected acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema (ACPE) ?

METHODS:

A systematic review was done. Studies of asymptomaticindividuals or in patients where there was no suspicion of ACPE wereexcluded. The outcome of interest was a diagnosis of ACPE using US
B-lines. A final diagnosis from clinical follow-up was accepted as the reference standard.

RESULTS:

Seven articles (n = 1,075) were identified. The sensitivity of point-of-care US using B-lines to diagnosis ACPE is 94.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 81.3% to 98.3%) and the specificity is 92.4% (95% CI = 84.2% to 96.4%).

CONCLUSIONS:

This study suggests that an US study showing B-lines can be used to strengthen an emergency physician's working diagnosis of ACPE.

Point-of-care ultrasonography for the diagnos... [Acad Emerg Med. 2014] - PubMed - NCBI