Role of bedside-focused ultrasonographic evaluation in the critical patient: a case report

Abstract

We present the case report of an 80 years old woman with late posttraumatic (of low intensity without any immediate clinical alteration) onset of dysphnoea, chest pain and hypotension, in which bedside ultrasonography has been a very useful tool in immediate diagnostic definition (acute respiratory distress syndrome – ARDS due to multiple pulmonary contusions), considering and excluding all possible alternative diagnosis with the same clinical presentation, but also providing a “real time” evaluation of therapeutic regimen (hypovolemia versus excessive fluid embalance) and, last but not least, the chance to perform a close follow up of the ultrasonographic alterations (pleural effusion, signs of alveolar consolidation) pointed out at initial diagnosis. Moreworthly, it has been possible to identify the previous mentioned lesion before they had become evident to standard X-Ray chest evaluation.

Keywords

• Bedside ultrasonography
• Emergency medicine