Emergency ultrasound diagnosis of the thorax for internal medicine and traumatology patients

Abstract

Thoracic ultrasound has a high significance in emergency medicine. In case of dyspnoea, it leads quickly and reliably to the causative disease. Especially in differentiating lobar pneumonia from cardiogenic pulmonary oedema and lung embolism, it may be used with good confidence. After thoracic trauma, most of the injuries can be detected with sonography: lung contusion, pleural effusion, pericardial effusion, pneumothorax, rib fractures and sternal fractures. In clinically unstable patients, vital decisions can be made based on sonographic results.