Abdominal ultrasound and VExUS score in critical care

The use of ultrasound while caring for critically ill patients has been increasing exponentially in the last two decades and now is an essential component of intensive care practice. Abdominal ultrasound is an established technique in other specialties, but its use in intensive care has lagged behind other ultrasound modalities. However, its potential role in the diagnosis and management of patients will make it an invaluable tool for intensivists. The main use of abdominal ultrasound at the bedside is for free fluid detection in trauma patients. But abdominal ultrasound can also help us diagnose patients with abdominal pain, hypovolemia or anuria, and it can guide us during procedures such as paracentesis or bladder catheter and gastric tube placement.

Diploma on Ultrasound training and competency for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine: Consensus document of the Spanish Society of Anesthesia (SEDAR), Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI) and Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES)

The use of ultrasound as a clinical diagnostic tool and guide of bedside procedures has become an indispensable examination in the acute critically ill patient. The training of professionals in minimum skills of knowledge, management and indications of use of ultrasound required to be defined by the Scientific Societies. The Intensive Care Ultrasound Working Group of the Spanish Society of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation (SEDAR), of the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI) and the Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES) has developed this consensus document in which the recommended training program and the minimum competencies to be achieved with regard to the use of Ultrasound in Intensive Care, Anesthesia and Emergency medicine are defined. This document defines the training program and the skills to acquire in order to achieve the diploma in lung, abdominal and vascular ultrasound. This document can serve as a guide to define the skills to be acquired in the training programs of residents (MIRs) of specialists working in intensive care, anesthesia, and emergency medicine.

Infiltrating endometriosis: diagnostic keys in abdominal ultrasonography

OBJECTIVE

Endometriosis is the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterus. Endometriosis of the bowel and urinary tract are types of extragenital endometriosis that manifest with nonspecific symptoms, but their detection involves specific therapeutic strategies. Although the characteristics of the disease on transvaginal ultrasonography and on magnetic resonance imaging have been described in many publications, few references describe its characteristics on abdominal ultrasonography. This paper illustrates the findings for infiltrating endometriosis involving the bowel and urinary tract on abdominal ultrasonography and shows the usefulness of this technique for identifying signs of the disease that have been described with other techniques. Knowledge of infiltrating endometriosis and its ultrasonographic features will enable radiologists to suggest its diagnosis and to include it in the differential diagnosis of pelvic pain in women of child-bearing age.

CONCLUSION

Abdominal ultrasonography is a useful tool in the diagnosis of extragenital endometriosis. Familiarity with the ultrasonographic appearance of this entity facilitates the diagnostic orientation and management of patients with pelvic pain.

[Validity of the abdominal ecography in primary care for detection of aorta abdominal aneurism in male between 65 and 75 years]

OBJECTIVE

To determine the usefulness of ultrasound examination in Primary Care (PC) for the detection of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in male patients from 65-75 years old, as well as the consistency between observers on the diagnosis between general practitioners and the reference specialty in this area, Vascular Surgery. To estimate the prevalence of AAA in that population and its association with risk factors.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional descriptive study.

LOCATION

Healthcare Centres of Coto and Calzada II (Gijón, Spain).

PARTICIPANTS

Males born between 1 January 1939 and 31 December 1950.

INTERVENTIONS

From the 2,511 males found, 407 were selected using stratified random sampling. Aortic diameter was measured, with those ≥3cm and 20% from the <3cm being referred for a second measurement by a vascular surgeon.

VARIABLES

Dependent: presence/absence of aneurism. Independent: age, abdominal perimeter, smoking, arterial hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia, familial cases of AAA, cerebrovascular accident, and coronary disease. The analysis was performed using Bayesian inference with models for proportions and a multivariate logistic regression.

RESULTS

From 304 ultrasound scans performed, 13 were referred with suspicion of AAA, and 63 with were within normal. The sensitivity was 93.3% and specificity 98.5% with a 95% credibility interval (CredI) of 75.4-99.9%, and 94.3-100%, respectively. The prevalence was 4.6% (95% CredI: 2.5-7.2%, and the intraclass correlation coefficient between PC and Vascular Surgery was 0.88 (95% CredI: 0.79-0.94). Age, smoking, dyslipidaemia, and diabetes tended to increase the odds of prevalence of AAA.

CONCLUSION

The ultrasound performed by GPs for the detection of AAA had high diagnostic validity. Further studies on the effectiveness should be conducted in order to assess the appropriateness of introducing a system of early detection of AAA in the risk population.

[Acceptability and quality of abdominal ultrasound studies requested by medical professionals]

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the acceptability/quality of abdominal ultrasound studies requested by primary care physicians in Barcelona; to develop ultrasound guidelines and assess their impact on acceptability.

METHODS

DESIGN

2-phase study, one retrospective, descriptive phase evaluating the acceptability/quality of requests (pre-intervention phase) and another to assess the impact of guidelines on acceptability/quality (post-intervention phase).

SUBJECTS

Requests for ultrasound studies from January-June 2010 from 10 primary care centers and the same number of requests from the same centers after the intervention.

VARIABLES

Pre-intervention phase: reason for consultation and request; presence of diagnostic orientation; results of ultrasound; acceptability/quality of the request.

INTERVENTION

design guidelines using the nominal group technique, dissemination of guidelines in the same centers. Post-intervention phase: three months after dissemination analyze the same number of requests assessing the same variables included in the pre-intervention phase.

RESULTS

Pre-intervention phase: 1,063 requests, 52.4% women, mean age 52±16years (range 11-94). Post-intervention phase: 1,060 requests, 57.6% women, mean age 54±17years (range 6-91). Main reasons for requests: abdominal pain/discomfort 38.3% (pre-intervention) and 43.1% (post-intervention). Diagnostic orientation in 14.5% (pre-intervention) and 40.8% (post-intervention). Normal ultrasound results in 46.0% (pre-intervention) and 42.3% (post-intervention). Good quality of requests in 42.7% (pre-intervention) and 46.5% (post-intervention). Acceptability of ultrasound: 70.5% (pre-intervention) and 94.1% (post-intervention). The better the quality of the request, the better the acceptability of the studies and the greater the number of pathological conditions identified.

CONCLUSIONS

Guidelines for ultrasound improve the quality of requests, diagnostic orientation and acceptability of the studies.

[Risk factors associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: a case-control study]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

To establish the factors associated with the presence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and evaluate the influence of each component constituting the metabolic syndrome (MS) and the risk of developing NAFLD.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We performed a multicenter, population-based, observational, analytical study of cases and controls. A case was defined as any patient fulfilling the inclusion criteria and presenting NAFLD by abdominal echography for any reason. A control was randomly selected for each case, from the same health center and of the same age and sex. All the cases underwent anamnesis, physical examination, complete biochemical analyses and determination of MS according to the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III criteria. All the controls also underwent an abdominal echography.

RESULTS

We included 327 cases and 377 controls with a mean age of 56 ± 12 years for the cases and of 55 ± 13 years for the controls (range: 17 and 80 years); 52.0% of the cases were males and 49.1% of males were controls. The risk factors associated with NAFLD were obesity (odds ratio [OR] 3.82, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 2.19-6.66), MS (OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.09-2.75), insulin resistance (OR 3.65, 95% CI 2.18-6.12), and an increase in alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (OR 4.72, 95% CI 2.58-8.61) and gamma glutamyl transferase values (GGT) (OR 1.95, 95% CI 1.14-3.34). The components of the MS best predicting NAFLD were hyperglycemia (OR 1.65, 95% CI1.06-2.56) and triglyceride values (OR 1.75, 95% CI1.13-2.72).

CONCLUSIONS

The independent variables associated with NAFLD were obesity, insulin resistance and elevated ALT and GGT. The components of MS best predicting NAFLD were hyperglycemia and an increase in triglyceride values.