VExUS: common misconceptions, clinical use and future directions

Abstract

Abstract There has been a significant interest in venous congestion in recent years, among which the VExUS score has been prominent, both in clinical practice and research efforts. We have noted some recurrent misconceptions among clinicians which are also reflected in certain research efforts. Notably, the misguided attempt to correlate VExUS to volume status, which is only one of the factors influencing it, as well as attempts to re-interpret VExUS in the context of certain pathologies, which reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of its circulatory perspective. In this article we review the physiological basis of the VExUS assessment as a measure and marker of venous congestion from the organs’ standpoint and its role as part of the emerging concept of fluid tolerance, in hopes to address these misconceptions for clinicians and for important further studies.