5-minute Cases Archives

Pericardial Effusion Without Tamponade – POCUS

Identify a pericardial effusion in the parasternal long (PLAX) and assess for clinical signs of tamponade. (5 minutes)

Identify key biliary anatomy and differentiate between gallstones and biliary sludge based on an echogenic shaddow. (5 min)

Identify key characterstics and generate a differential for right ventricular strain based on the parasternal short axis (PSAX) view. (5 min)

Identify systolic dysfuction in the PLAX view and use end-point septal seperation (EPSS) to characterize the severity (5 min case)

Identify a pleural effusion and using lung ultrasound and describe the relative diagnostic accuracy compared to chest radiograph. (5 minutes)

Identify the absence of lung sliding on ultrasound to diagnose a pneumothorax and review the anatomy of lung ultrasound (5 minutes)

Identify B-lines on lung ultrasound and generate a differential based on a clinical history and distribution (5 minutes).

Use POCUS to identify a dense lobar consolidation ("hepatization") and distinguish the normal finding of "mirror artifact". (5 minutes).

Use POCUS to identify normal pleural and aerated lung in a patient with sub-acute dyspnea to diagnose a COPD exacerbation (5 minutes).