VIDEO: Focused cardiac ultrasound aids acute heart failure patients

VIENNA – Bedside echocardiography has become a key part of quickly assessing patients with acute heart failure to decide the best management strategy.

But bedside echo images often are challenging to interpret, so physicians performing an initial work-up of an acute heart failure patient need training in a basic echocardiography examination, Dr. Nuno Cardim said in an interview during the annual meeting of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging.

Known as Focused Cardiac Ultrasound (FoCUS), this triage-level exam is distinct from a comprehensive echocardiography assessment. Instead, FoCUS addresses some basic, yes-or-no, present-or-absent questions regarding systolic function, hypovolemia, tamponade, pleural effusion, and pulmonary embolus.

In a position paper and then in practice recommendations issued in 2014, the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging acknowledged that use of FoCUS in acute heart failure patients was “irreversible,” said Dr. Cardim, professor and director of echocardiography and cardiac imaging at Hospital da Luz in Lisbon.

Cardiologists and echocardiography specialists need to make sure that FoCUS training is available to all physicians who might see suspected acute heart failure patients in emergency medicine settings, Dr. Cardim said.

Dr. Cardim had no disclosures.

[email protected]

On Twitter @mitchelzoler

VIENNA – Bedside echocardiography has become a key part of quickly assessing patients with acute heart failure to decide the best management strategy.

But bedside echo images often are challenging to interpret, so physicians performing an initial work-up of an acute heart failure patient need training in a basic echocardiography examination, Dr. Nuno Cardim said in an interview during the annual meeting of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging.

Known as Focused Cardiac Ultrasound (FoCUS), this triage-level exam is distinct from a comprehensive echocardiography assessment. Instead, FoCUS addresses some basic, yes-or-no, present-or-absent questions regarding systolic function, hypovolemia, tamponade, pleural effusion, and pulmonary embolus.

In a position paper and then in practice recommendations issued in 2014, the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging acknowledged that use of FoCUS in acute heart failure patients was “irreversible,” said Dr. Cardim, professor and director of echocardiography and cardiac imaging at Hospital da Luz in Lisbon.

Cardiologists and echocardiography specialists need to make sure that FoCUS training is available to all physicians who might see suspected acute heart failure patients in emergency medicine settings, Dr. Cardim said.

Dr. Cardim had no disclosures.

[email protected]

On Twitter @mitchelzoler

VIENNA – Bedside echocardiography has become a key part of quickly assessing patients with acute heart failure to decide the best management strategy.

But bedside echo images often are challenging to interpret, so physicians performing an initial work-up of an acute heart failure patient need training in a basic echocardiography examination, Dr. Nuno Cardim said in an interview during the annual meeting of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging.

Known as Focused Cardiac Ultrasound (FoCUS), this triage-level exam is distinct from a comprehensive echocardiography assessment. Instead, FoCUS addresses some basic, yes-or-no, present-or-absent questions regarding systolic function, hypovolemia, tamponade, pleural effusion, and pulmonary embolus.

In a position paper and then in practice recommendations issued in 2014, the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging acknowledged that use of FoCUS in acute heart failure patients was “irreversible,” said Dr. Cardim, professor and director of echocardiography and cardiac imaging at Hospital da Luz in Lisbon.

Cardiologists and echocardiography specialists need to make sure that FoCUS training is available to all physicians who might see suspected acute heart failure patients in emergency medicine settings, Dr. Cardim said.

Dr. Cardim had no disclosures.

[email protected]

On Twitter @mitchelzoler