Shedding light on a hidden source of septic shock with POCUS
Miguel Lourenço Varela,
Rita Martins Fernandes,
Maria Luísa Melão,
Javier Moreno,
Cristina Granja
Affiliations
Miguel Lourenço Varela
Intensive Care Medicine 1, Hospital de Faro, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve
Rita Martins Fernandes
Internal Medicine 3, Hospital de Faro, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve
Maria Luísa Melão
Intensive Care Medicine 1, Hospital de Faro, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve
Javier Moreno
Intensive Care Medicine 1, Hospital de Faro, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve
Cristina Granja
Intensive Care Medicine 1, Hospital de Faro, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve; CINTESIS – Center for Health Technology and Services Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; Department of Biomedical Sciences and Medicine, University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal
A 77-year old male was admitted in the emergency department for septic shock, yet no clear source of infection was noted upon physical examination and a portable chest x-ray. Due to his unstable condition, bedside ultrasound was performed. A heterogeneous mass in the liver was noted, hence a tentative diagnosis of liver abscess was made. This was latter confirmed by abdominal computed tomography. This case highlights that point-of-care ultrasound, when performed by expert physicians, can significantly decrease time to diagnosis for septic patients.
