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Focus‐assessed transthoracic echocardiography in the sitting position: two life‐saving cases
Author(s) -
FREDERIKSEN C. A.,
KNUDSEN L.,
JUHLOLSEN P.,
SLOTH E.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
acta anaesthesiologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1399-6576
pISSN - 0001-5172
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-6576.2010.02330.x
Subject(s) - medicine , supine position , sitting , exacerbation , ultrasound , position (finance) , intensive care medicine , focus (optics) , point of care ultrasound , emergency medicine , radiology , surgery , pathology , physics , finance , optics , economics
Focus‐Assessed Transthoracic Echocardiography (FATE) is a point‐of‐care ultrasound protocol allowing the fast evaluation of the cardio‐pulmonary status. It has been well established that patients with an exacerbation of chronic obstructive lung disease and lung oedema benefit from the sitting position. These and other medical emergency situations may prevent patients from attaining the supine position, thus precluding standard echocardiography. Portable ultrasound machines with a wide range of different probes are now available at limited costs. This allows the physician to bring point‐of‐care ultrasound to the patient in almost any location. We present two cases of severely ill patients where FATE was performed in the sitting position with decisive impact on subsequent therapy.