Clinical specialtyAcute breathlessness accounts for 8% of accident and emergency attendances. Point-of-care cardiac ultrasound (US) effectively reduces time to diagnosis. Fast and practical information via pocket-sized cardiac US devices may better the diagnosis in this complex patient group.
For our method, we prospectively enrolled 40 consecutive patients presenting with shortness of breath at the emergency department (ED). Divided into two groups were all adult patients over 18 with acute breathing difficulties (triage category 1-3): 21 patients received a short focused cardiac US scan using a pocket-sized Vscan and 19 patients received no scan. Data were obtained regarding the time taken for diagnosis and treatment, patient length of stay, inpatient mortality and 30-day mortality.
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