Point of care lung ultrasound can be a reliable adjunct for diagnosis of acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema.

Overview

Lung point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) can be an adjunct utilized to reinforce a working diagnosis of ACPE or to strongly reinforce exclusion of ACPE in patients presenting with acute dyspnea in emergency departments.

A 2014 meta-analysis found a sensitivity of 94.1% and specificity of 92.4% for lung POCUS diagnosis of ACPE in patients presenting with acute dyspnea.

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Acute Cardiogenic Pulmonary Edema

‍Publication

Point-of-care ultrasonography for the diagnosis of acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema in patients presenting with acute dyspnea: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Key Findings

• Ultrasound B-lines for diagnosis of acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema (ACPE):
• Sensitivity is 94.1% (95% CI = 81.3% to 98.3%)
• Specificity is 92.4% (95% CI = 84.2% to 96.4%)

Paper Implications

• B-lines in ultrasound study + moderate to high pretest probability of ACPE = reinforce probability of ACPE
• Negative ultrasound study + low pretest ACPE probability = almost exclude ACPE possibility

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