Clik here to view.
Only when I laugh
A middle-aged martial arts enthusiast was training in Krav Maga, and participated in a high-contact punching and grappling sparring exercise in which his (younger, heavier) partner threw him to the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lung ultrasound for pneumothorax by paramedics
This UK study showed that paramedics could successfully acquire and identify lung ultrasound images after a two day course. The course covered the identification and management of patients who present...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Not a pin cushion
This is the daughter of my friend. Avery is only seven months old and has survived a critical illness and is thankfully now fully recovered. Her Dad has nothing but praise for the medical and nursing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is diastolic worse than systolic dysfunction in sepsis?
Septic myocardial dysfunction is a well recognised contributor to shock in sepsis but for many of us we assume this to be gross systolic impairment. Interestingly a recent study highlights that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is it time to abandon plain radiography in the trauma room?
For patients who will be having a chest CT, perhaps sonography could replace chest radiography in the resus room as the initial imaging step; this recent prospective study shows its superiority over...
View ArticleEchocardiography in Pulmonary Embolism
I had great fun joining in a Google Hangout with the Ultrasound Podcast guys and some real masters of emergency/critical care ultrasound. You can watch it here:
View ArticleFinally I understand ultrasound physics
Ever waste time trying to shake some ultrasound gel out the bottle, like a resistant blob of ketchup? Sydney emergency medicine registrar Dr Steve Skinner demonstrates how to solve this. With physics....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Echo for cardiac arrest outcome prediction
A meta-analysis of studies evaluation transthoracic echo as a means of predicting return of spontaneous circulation in cardiac arrest (ROSC) provides some likelihood ratios to what we already know:...
View ArticleExternally rotate leg for femoral vein access
Want to access the femoral vein? Externally rotate the leg at the hip and things might be a bit easier. This study was done in adult patients, with the knee straight and no abduction applied. External...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What happened to HIFU?
High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) was hailed as the ‘surgery of the future’ a few years ago(1). As it’s now the future, where is it? HIFU uses ultrasound to increase the heat within tissues at a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Predicting volume responsiveness
One of the current Holy Grails of ED critical care is to find a reliable measure of fluid responsiveness in those patients with impaired organ perfusion, such as those with severe sepsis. This would...
View ArticleDoes RV enlargement on echo predict PE?
A nice paper from Annals of Emergency Medicine showing the test characteristcs of some of the common signs we look for on basic 2D echo that suggest the presence of (sub)massive pulmonary embolism:...
View Article
