While the majority of patients presenting in heart failure will have systolic dysfunction, it is useful to grasp the idea of diastolic dysfunction, its pathophysiology, and how we can use ultrasound to assist with making this diagnosis rapidly and confidently.

New evidence from a recent NEJM article, evaluating US vs CT for initial work up of suspected renal colic, found no difference in adverse outcomes. This suggests that a more conservative imaging strategy, beginning with renal ultrasound, may be the right place to start. Learn how here. 

 Understanding the multiple tissue layers in MSK ultrasound may appear daunting, but once you get the basics you should be all set. Your next task, which will ultimately make to a highly skilled MSK ultrasonographer, will be knowing your anatomy well for each scan you perform. 

If you thought that the EFAST would be the only use of ultrasound in trauma then you were wrong. We are just beginning to touch on the extended utility of ultrasound in trauma.

There is growing literature to support beside compression ultrasonography by emergency physicians as the initial study. Multiple studies have demonstrated that this approach is both sensitive and specific for diagnosis of DVT and decreases ED length of stay. 

The female patient arriving to your emergency department with an positive pregnancy test, vaginal bleeding and vague abdominal pain is something we see all too often. The dreaded word ectopic runs through your head and while uncommon, it is something you cannot miss. 

With a test that is essentially free and can be performed in minutes, it is a scan well worth the effort, prior to ordering that CT scan, to assist in guiding your diagnostic work up in the right direction. 

The reason we should be performing RUQ ultrasound in the emergency department is multifaceted. Not only does it decreased length of stay, it also has the potential to save a significant amount of money by reducing the number of additional radiology studies ordered..plus we're good at it. 

Today we are talking about ultrasound guidance in central venous cannulation (CVC). While once a procedure based on anatomic landmarks, it has now essentially become standard of care to perform CVC under direct ultrasound visualization. 

Enter the ultrasound guided peripheral IV. It is a procedure that can be learned online and immediately practiced at the bedside. It decreases the number of central lines that need to be placed in difficult access patients and it likely increased patient satisfaction (less pokes = happier patient).

Initially, procedural ultrasound may seem to be quite a daunting task, given the Smörgåsbord of procedures we routinely perform. However, once you are able to understand the concept and capture the proper general technique, it will be merely application from here. 

We are really good at getting an ultrasound probe on your trauma patient's really fast to assess for bleeding, why not do the same when you need answers  fast in the dying medical patient?

That being said, aortic aneurysm is something to always keep on the differential, especially in a patient with previous smoking history. In the right patient, performing a simple aortic ultrasound can help you to diagnose an aortic aneurysm or a dissection and save a life.

The origin of lung ultrasound dates back to the 1990s when a doctor by the name of Lichtenstein...He first described artifacts such as comet tails and b-lines and found that in a particular study, comet tails were present in a significantly higher proportion of patients with pulmonary edema. 

Cardiac ultrasound has become an essential component to our beside ultrasound curriculum in EM. It is fast, can identify key lesions that may require intervention, and is something that can be learned and implemented without significant training. 

Ultrasound provides us with a window into the trauma patient whom often is altered, or has significant distracting injuries, which prevents us from identifying occult injury.