Point-of-Care Ultrasound: A Vital Tool for Anesthesiologists in the Perioperative and Critical Care Settings

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 16; no. 8; p. e66908
• Main Authors: Dhir, Ankita, Bhasin, Dinkar, Bhasin-Chhabra, Bhavna, Koratala, Abhilash
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Cureus Inc 01-08-2024
• Subjects: Accuracy; Anesthesia; Arterial lines; Blood clots; Cartilage; Catheters; Clinical trials; Critical care; Emergency medical care; Esophagus; Intensive care; Intubation; Mathematical models; Medical personnel; Meta-analysis; Patients; Point of care testing; Risk assessment; Success; Thrombosis; Thyroid gland; Ultrasonic imaging; Veins & arteries; Venous access; airway ultrasound; perioperative pocus; bedside ultrasound; gastric ultrasound; anaesthesiology; pocus (point of care ultrasound)
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.66908

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is an essential skill in various specialties like anesthesiology, critical care, and emergency medicine. Anesthesiologists utilize POCUS for quick diagnosis and procedural guidance in perioperative and critical care settings. Key applications include vascular ultrasound for challenging venous and arterial catheter placements, gastric ultrasound for aspiration risk assessment, airway ultrasound, diaphragm ultrasound, and lung ultrasound for respiratory assessment. Additional utilities of POCUS can include multi-organ POCUS evaluation for undifferentiated shock or cardiac arrest, ultrasound-guided central neuraxial and peripheral nerve blocks, focused cardiac ultrasound, and novel applications such as venous excess ultrasound. This review highlights these POCUS applications in perioperative and intensive care and summarizes the latest evidence of their accuracy and limitations.