The Use of Point-of-Care Bedside Lung Ultrasound Significantly Reduces the Number of Radiographs and Computed Tomography Scans in Critically Ill Patients

Abstract

Chest radiography has been reported to have low diagnostic accuracy in critically ill intensive care unit (ICU) patients, and chest computed tomography (CT) scans require patients to be transported out of the ICU, putting them at risk of adverse events. In this study we assessed the efficacy of routine bedside lung ultrasound (LUS) in the evaluation of pleural effusions (PE) in the ICU.

Keywords

• routine chest radiographs
• receiving mechanical ventilation
• pleural effusions
• intrahospital transport
• ultrasonography
• unit
• icu