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Review of Point-of-Care (POC) Ultrasound for the 21st Century Perioperative Physician

  • Cardiovascular Anesthesia (A Mahajan, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Point-of-care (POC) ultrasonography can be defined as ultrasonography brought to the patient and performed by the provider in real time. Anesthesiologists commonly use this modality to aid regional anesthesia and central vascular access. However, as POC ultrasonography has been further developed, utility of this technology has increased in the areas of hemodynamic monitoring, cardiopulmonary function, and other areas that are relevant for the perioperative physician. This manuscript seeks to provide a review of the literature of point-of-care ultrasound topics that are relevant for the anesthesiologist. These topics will include (I) assessment of preload and fluid responsiveness, (II) assessment of mechanisms of hypotension and shock, (III) evaluation of pulmonary function, (IV) advanced vascular access, and (V) additional areas of POC ultrasound for perioperative improvement. Finally, this manuscript will suggest a novel POC ultrasound curriculum that integrates the components of this review into a comprehensive perioperative ultrasound examination, abbreviated as FORESIGHT (focused, perioperative, risk, evaluation, sonography, involving, gastro-abdominal, hemodynamic, and trans-thoracic ultrasound) exam.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, University of California at Irvine Medical Center, Irvine, 333 The City Boulevard West, Suite 2150, Orange, CA, 92868, USA

    Davinder Ramsingh, Mike Ross & Maxime Cannesson

  2. Department of Anesthesiology, University of California at Los Angeles, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, 757 Westwood Plaza, Suite 3325, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-7403, USA

    Sumit Singh

  3. Guardian Anesthesia Services, PLLC, 1002 Gemini #128, Houston, TX, 77058, USA

    Wendell Williams

Authors
  1. Davinder Ramsingh
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  2. Sumit Singh
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  3. Mike Ross
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  4. Wendell Williams
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  5. Maxime Cannesson
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Correspondence to Davinder Ramsingh.

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Davinder Ramsingh, Sumit Singh, Mike Ross, Wendell Williams, and Maxime Cannesson declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Cardiovascular Anesthesia.

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Fig. 10
figure 10

FORESIGHT (focused, perioperative, risk, evaluation, sonography, involving, gastro-abdominal, hemodynamic, and trans-thoracic ultrasound) curriculum

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Ramsingh, D., Singh, S., Ross, M. et al. Review of Point-of-Care (POC) Ultrasound for the 21st Century Perioperative Physician. Curr Anesthesiol Rep 5, 452–464 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40140-015-0137-2

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