Point-of-care ultrasound at the patient’s bedside can help diagnose PE in patients. In results from a clinical trial published in the May issue of CHEST, Peiman Nazerian, MD, and colleagues studied adult patients suspected of PE who had a Wells score >4 or a positive D-dimer result.
PE was diagnosed in 110 of 357 enrolled patients (30.8%). Multiorgan ultrasonography yielded a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 86.2%, lung ultrasonography 60.9% and 95.9%, heart ultrasonography 32.7% and 90.9%, and vein ultrasonography 52.7% and 97.6%, respectively. Among the 132 patients (37%) with multiorgan ultrasonography negative for PE plus an alternative ultrasonographic diagnosis or plus a negative D-dimer result, no patients received PE as a final diagnosis.
Researchers concluded that multiorgan, point-of-care ultrasound increased the accuracy of diagnosing patients with suspected pulmonary embolism.
