Mount Sinai Emergency Medicine Ultrasound

X-Ray Sucks #1: Finger Injury

In this new series we will highlight cases where ultrasound proved more useful than x-ray.

A seven year old boy presented with distal phalanx pain, tenderness after a fall.

The following x-ray was performed:

What is your diagnosis? Can ultrasound help? How would you perform an ultrasound on such a superficial structure?

The following ultrasound of the distal finger was performed (probe marker towards fingertip):

What is your diagnosis now? Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to Tatiana for an expertly presented ultrasound case of the month.  She was kind enough to put together this summary.

43y.o. F with pmh of asthma, HTN, recently treated for PNA p/w worsening dyspnea, pleuritic chest  pain,  cough and fever. Found to be tachypnic and tachycardic in the ED. CXR suggesting perihilar PNA. While awaiting chest CTA to r/o PE you perform bedside echo and obtain the following image:

Is there anything abnormal? How does this change your management?

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Thanks to Eduardo Lacalle for his presentation of the Ultrasound case of the month yesterday at Elmhurst conference.  Here’s a quick summary.

29M BIBEMS after assault.  Intoxicated but awake and cooperative.  Only complains of right eye and right flank pain. Vital Signs are stable.  The patient has some superficial right periorbital abrasions.  He is tender in the right upper quadrant and the eFAST exam reveals the following images.

Is there anything of interest noted here?  What are your next steps?

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54M with h/o HTN, DM, Tobacco and Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis presents with neck mass.  He looks dyspneic and uncomfortable at triage and has an obvious mass above his left clavicle to the degree that his head is tilted a bit to the right.  Concerned, the triage RN defers the EKG and A-Side attending consult and rolls the patient into your formerly mellow cardiac room shift.  Although overall he looks gaunt, his face is swollen and dark colored (“facial plethora”).  You go through your IV/O2/Monitor/ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST and then grab the ultrasound machine.

After turning on the machine,  you obtain the following images of the left neck.

Without Compression

With Compression

What do you think the patient has and whatcha  going to do about it?

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This 16 year old patient presents to the Emergency Department you have just started at in Menominee Michigan.   All of today’s patients have been on their way home this last day of hunting season.  You suspect this patient will be more interesting, as she is wearing a PETA shirt and not a shred of orange or leather.  Although her chief complaint was nausea and vomiting, her urine pregnancy test was positive, prompting the ultrasound evaluation which revealed this image:

What is your diagnosis and what is the next step for this patient?

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