Abstract
Purpose
We analyzed the efficacy of a point-of-care ultrasonographic protocol, based on a focused multiorgan examination, for the diagnostic process of symptomatic, non-traumatic hypotensive patients in the emergency department.
Methods
We prospectively enrolled 108 adult patients complaining of non-traumatic symptomatic hypotension of uncertain etiology. Patients received immediate point-of-care ultrasonography to determine cardiac function and right/left ventricle diameter rate, inferior vena cava diameter and collapsibility, pulmonary congestion, consolidations and sliding, abdominal free fluid and aortic aneurysm, and leg vein thrombosis. The organ-oriented diagnoses were combined to formulate an ultrasonographic hypothesis of the cause of hemodynamic instability. The ultrasonographic diagnosis was then compared with a final clinical diagnosis obtained by agreement of three independent expert physicians who performed a retrospective hospital chart review of each case.
Results
Considering the whole population, concordance between the point-of-care ultrasonography diagnosis and the final clinical diagnosis was interpreted as good, with Cohen’s k = 0.710 (95 % CI, 0.614–0.806), p < 0.0001 and raw agreement (Ra) = 0.768. By eliminating the 13 cases where the final clinical diagnosis was not agreed upon (indefinite), the concordance increased to almost perfect, with k = 0.971 (95 % CI, 0.932–1.000), p < 0.0001 and Ra = 0.978.
Conclusions
Emergency diagnostic judgments guided by point-of-care multiorgan ultrasonography in patients presenting with undifferentiated hypotension significantly agreed with a final clinical diagnosis obtained by retrospective chart review. The integration of an ultrasonographic multiorgan protocol in the diagnostic process of undifferentiated hypotension has great potential in guiding the first-line therapeutic approach.
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The authors thank all the staff of our emergency department who worked with enthusiasm in the study.
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Trial registry: ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT01572571; URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov
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Volpicelli, G., Lamorte, A., Tullio, M. et al. Point-of-care multiorgan ultrasonography for the evaluation of undifferentiated hypotension in the emergency department. Intensive Care Med 39, 1290–1298 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-013-2919-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-013-2919-7