Hello Sono: October 27 POCUS Webinar Spotlight

SMA is pleased to welcome Tatiana Havryliuk, MD, founder of  Hello Sono, as the featured presenter for the complimentary webinar, Everyday Uses for Ocular Ultrasound on Tuesday, October 27.

Original Article

Does Point-of-Care Ultrasound Affect Outcomes in Pediatric Patients with Skin and Soft Tissue Infections?

Objective: There is increasing evidence for the use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in pediatric patients with skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI), but there is a lack of sufficient data on its impact on SSTI outcomes. The objective of this study was to determine whether POCUS use is associated with…

Review Article

Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Resource-Limited Settings: Common Applications

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is used increasingly in resource-limited settings (RLSs), particularly as inexpensive ultrasound machines and evidence-based protocols become more available. POCUS often is the only imaging modality available in such settings, and it has the potential to significantly affect patient care. This article discusses four case-based reviews of POCUS…

Original Article

Point-of-Care Ultrasound in the Inpatient Setting: A Tale of Four Patients

Point of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has become a mainstream bedside tool for clinicians in several specialties and is gaining recognition in hospital medicine. There are many clinical applications in which the inpatient practitioner can use POCUS to improve his or her diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of patients. POCUS is valuable in…

Original Article

Point-of-Care Ultrasound Improves Shared Diagnostic Understanding Between Patients and Providers

Objectives: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has become an integral part of the physical examination. The effect on shared understanding of adding POCUS to the traditional examination is unknown, yet this is an often-described benefit of POCUS. The primary aim of this study was to determine whether the use of POCUS improves…

Review Article

Point-of-Care Ultrasound Applications in the Outpatient Clinic

Although the use of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is well established in the emergency department (ED) and intensive care unit, the use of POCUS in the outpatient clinic setting is still emerging. General practitioners and specialists alike have increasing access to smaller and less expensive US devices that can assist in…

Review Article

Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Established Settings

The original and most widely accepted applications for point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) are in the settings of trauma, shock, and bedside procedures. Trauma was the original setting for the introduction of POCUS and has been standardized under the four-plus view examination called the Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST). This…

Original Article

PEARLS for an Ultrasound Physical and Its Routine Use as Part of the Clinical Examination

At present, there is no consensus on what a routine examination that uses ultrasound (US) should look like. Point-of-care US (POCUS) is poised to be as important a clinical skill as palpation and auscultation; however, the expansive list of potential applications can be intimidating to the beginner. In this article…

Review Article

Screening Mammography and Digital Breast Tomosynthesis: Controversies

Breast cancer screening with mammography reduces breast cancer mortality; however, diverging recommendations regarding screening have caused controversy. The emerging technology of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) may soon become the mainstay of breast cancer screening. We present recommendations for breast cancer screening based on guidelines. A PubMed literature review was performed…

Original Article

Do Gestational Age Dating Criteria Matter in Medically Indicated Late Preterm, Early-Term, and Full-Term Inductions of Labor?

Objectives: To assess short-term neonatal respiratory morbidity from inductions of labor (IOL) in well-dated (WD) pregnancies (dating ultrasound [US] 35 weeks. There were no differences in maternal or other neonatal outcomes between the WD and NWD pregnancies. Conclusions: In our cohort of medically indicated IOL, a dating US before 20…

Original Article

Safety and Efficacy of Percutaneous Renal Biopsy by Physicians-in-Training in an Academic Teaching Setting

Objectives: The safety and efficacy of percutaneous renal biopsy (PKB) are relatively little studied in a training setting. We sought to review our recent experience with bedside PKB in our training program. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort review of our consecutive 2.5-year renal biopsy experience (May 2007–November 2009) at…

Original Article

Multiple Cutaneous and Hepatic Hemangiomas in Infants

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine the rate of hepatic hemangiomas in infants with cutaneous infantile hemangiomas that were screened by abdominal ultrasound; identify morphological subtypes and number of cutaneous infantile hemangiomas that are likely to suggest the presence of hepatic hemangiomas; and identify clinical history, physical…

Original Article

Handheld Ultrasound, B-Natriuretic Peptide for Screening Stage B Heart Failure

Objective: To determine if B-natriuretic peptide (BNP), handheld ultrasound, and echo interpretation was an accurate and reliable screening for stage B heart failure. Methods: One hundred and forty-five indigent diabetic patients were prospectively enrolled, and their BNP levels were measured. Each patient underwent a handheld echo. Results: BNP was correlated…

Original Article

Association of Clinical and Laboratory Variables With Ultrasound Findings in Right Upper Quadrant Abdominal Pain

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine how laboratory values and physical examination findings correlate with ultrasound findings in the setting of right upper quadrant pain. Methods: Patients undergoing emergent ultrasound for the evaluation of biliary disease between November 1999 and April 2000 were included. Physical examination findings,…