Tag: shock

In emergency situations, particularly when treating pets in shock, quickly assessing left ventricular (LV) function is crucial for determining the best course of action and accurately diagnosing the type of shock (cardiogenic vs. hypovolemic vs. distributive vs. obstructive). A fast, reliable method that emergency veterinarians can use is Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS). This “eyeball” approach allows us to evaluate LV contractility efficiently.

In this post, I’ll walk you through the three primary components of LV function assessment using POCUS, which can be easily applied by non-cardiologists. By mastering these techniques, you’ll be able to identify whether your patient’s LV function is hyperdynamic, normal, or depressed in just a few moments.

Assessment of the intravascular volume status is a critical skill for emergency veterinarians. Point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS) is emerging as a valuable, noninvasive, cage-side diagnostic tool for objective evaluation of physiologic and hemodynamic parameters related to volume status, fluid tolerance, and responsiveness. Rapid cage-side sonographic evaluation can obtain qualitative data on cardiac function even when performed by non-cardiologists. POCUS involves answering focused clinical questions using cage-side ultrasonography and increases the sensitivity of the conventional physical examination.

That said, POCUS findings should be interpreted in conjunction with other clinical parameters—such as conventional perfusion parameters (heart rate, mentation, body temperature, mucous membrane color, CRT, pulse quality), urine output, blood pressure, and body weight —and not viewed as an alternative to physical examination or standard imaging studies.

In this blog post, I will describe the most commonly used views to assess volume status in dogs and cats: focused sonographic assessment of the heart (cardiac POCUS) and caudal vena cava (CVC POCUS).