An Approach to Point-Of-Care Ultrasound Evaluation of the Abdominal Aorta

Molly Hartrich; Wesley Eilbert

doi:10.3791/65487

Journal

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Medicine

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An Approach to Point-Of-Care Ultrasound Evaluation of the Abdominal Aorta

JoVE Journal
Medicine

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JoVE Journal Medicine

An Approach to Point-Of-Care Ultrasound Evaluation of the Abdominal Aorta

2,124 Views

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07:12 min

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September 08, 2023

DOI:

10.3791/65487-v

DOI:

10.3791/65487-v

•

07:12 min

September 08, 2023

•

48 Views

Molly Hartrich¹, Wesley Eilbert¹

¹Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine,University of Illinois Hospital

Transcript

We seek to demonstrate the use of point-of-care ultrasound or POCUS to evaluate the anatomy and pathology of the abdominal aorta. POCUS has excellent sensitivity and specificity for the evaluation of abdominal aortic aneurysm, and excellent specificity for the evaluation of abdominal aortic dissection. Some of the challenges include ensuring POCUS users have adequate training and ensuring they can identify pathology and artifacts with accuracy.

This protocol is comprehensive and can be performed and interpreted by the same individual in less than five minutes. This is faster than computed tomography angiography, especially when the patient is critically ill and not stable enough to leave the critical care area for an imaging test.

Summary

This protocol reviews the steps to image the abdominal aorta with point-of-care ultrasound. We discuss image acquisition, troubleshooting imaging pitfalls and artifacts, and the recognition of life-threatening abdominal aortic pathology.