Intro to POCUS Flashcards
What is the main “pro” to POCUS?
US improves diagnostic accuracy
Decreases overall cost of care
Decreases time to diagnosis
What is the relationship between frequency and wavelength in US?
Frequency and Wavelength are inversely related
the higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength
What structures will appear anechoic?
Fluid
Appears black due to complete absence of returning sound waves
What structures will appear hypoechoic?
structures that have very few echoes and appear darker than the surrounding tissue
What structures will appear hyperechoic?
echogenic structures appear brighter than the surrounding tissue
What pathological finding can present with acoustic shadowing?
Gallstones
What is posterior acoustic enhancement?
occurs deep to an anechoic structure
Due to increase in echogenicity posterior to an anechoic structure
Example: bladder/gallbladder
What is edge artifact?
sound is bent around a fluid filled structure
Ex. gallbladder
What is Mirror Artifact?
due to a highly reflective surface causing the machine to display an artefactual image of the reflection of an object
generally appears at the bottom/periphery of the screen
What is Reverberation ARtifact?
typically seen with line placement and causes parallel “echoes” of the actual needle
what is the probe orientation for longitudinal scanning?
Longitudinal scanning is with the probe marker toward the head
What is the orientation of the probe for transverse scanning?
Probe marker is facing the patient’s right so that the image will look similar to the orientation of a CT
*Exception is cardiac, screen marker is on the left
What is ALARA?
the concept of using “as low as reasonably achievable exposure” when utilizing US
What is the purpose of the FAST scan?
detect free intraperitoneal fluid, pericardial fluid, pleural fluid, Hemothorax, and pnuemothroax in trauma pt
What is morrison’s pouch?
Right flank
Hepatorenal view
