FAST track to diagnostic success - Point-of-care ultrasound in practice

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) refers to the acquisition, interpretation, and immediate clinical integration of sonographic imaging performed patient-side by an attending clinician with the goal of answering a focused question or series of questions rather than assessing all structures of an organ(s) by a specialist.
The benefits of POCUS include that it can be performed rapidly, at the patient-side, and provide information that is otherwise unattainable on physical examination alone. POCUS is best used to answer a series of targeted Yes/No questions, specific for each patient based on their presentation.
This lecture will use 3 cases to review the role of abdominal POCUS, pleural space and lung ultrasound (PLUS), as well as cardiac POCUS in assessing unstable dogs and cats. Case 1 is a cat in respiratory distress, case 2 a collapsed dog, and case 3 a dog with blunt trauma.

At the end of this lecture attendees will be able to:

• Explain how thoracic POCUS can be used to determine the presence of pathology such as pleural space disease (effusion or pneumothorax), and wet lung.
• Explain how cardiac POCUS can be used to determine the presence or absence of pericardial effusion, left atrial enlargement, and systolic dysfunction.
• Explain how abdominal POCUS can be used to determine the presence or absence of free abdominal effusion, and interrogate specific organs such as the gall bladder, spleen, and liver.