Ultrasound GEL

The SAEMMIES 2021

This Special Edition podcast covers not one - but 7 really important POCUS articles! These articles were selected by the Academy of Emergency Ultrasound (an academy of the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine) as the top articles from the past year. Here we briefly discuss the winningest articles from each of the categories!

https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/112

Papilledema

We have talked about ocular ultrasound many times before - it certainly can be useful in identifying many acute ophthalmologic pathologies. But what about papilledema? We know that POCUS can be used to measure the optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD), which dilates with increased intracranial pressure. So theoretically this should work well in patients with suspected increased intracranial pressure, such as those with idiopathic intracranial hypertension. The question now is how well does POCUS fare in finding papilledema compared to the good ol' fashioned physical exam? https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/111 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33532756/

Septic Arthritis of the Hip

We have been ultrasounding hips for a while now. We know this modality is accurate for finding effusions. This can really help in cases of suspected septic arthritis. Unlike patients with this disease, this study takes multiple steps forward. First it asks the question - "Does point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in the emergency department lead to a faster diagnosis?". Then it goes further by trying to determine whether or not POCUS can lead to earlier treatment as well. Fascinating results from a really hip study! https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/110 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33000078/

Innovation Through Collaboration

In this Special Edition podcast, Mike is joined by POCUS leaders and educators Nova Panebianco and Cameron Baston to discuss their recent publication on interdepartmental collaboration with ultrasound. They discuss their process for creating a combined fellowship and share additional pointers in achieving mutually beneficial relationships between departments. https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/109 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30592332/

Lung Ultrasound for Acute Chest Syndrome

Acute chest syndrome is such a great application for lung ultrasound, especially in pediatrics where we do everything we can to dodge the harmful affects of ionizing radiation. We have covered this once before on the podcast, but it was ages ago. This is a recent well-done study that takes another look to see how ultrasound compares to the commonly employed chest radiography. Join the GEL Jr team as they discuss how this might play out in practice! https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/108 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32928462/

Transcranial Doppler in Traumatic Brain Injury

Transcranial doppler has been a developing interest to point-of-care ultrasound enthusiasts. While it has been a mainstay for certain inpatient indications, only relatively recently have some bold souls proposed application in the acute care setting. These uses include assessing for midline shift, vasospasm, elevated intracranial hemorrhage. This article explores an even more novel idea - using it in the early period after a traumatic brain injury to assess resultant changes in cerebral blood flow. Perhaps this could provide a non-invasive measurement with important prognostic implications. https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/107 https://bit.ly/2O04ycd

Pediatric POCUS Interpretation

This is the first episode of GEL Jr. - our pediatric series! Hosts Delia Gold and Lianne McLean join Mike in discussing an important article on the learning of pediatric POCUS. These authors studied how participants learned image interpretation from an online POCUS educational system. The findings have many important implications for education and competency! https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/106 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32313857/

Integrated Lung Ultrasound for the Diagnosis of COVID-19

Look - we're sorry. We know you are sick of COVID-19, but when this came across our desk we knew it was important. So far we know that point-of-care lung ultrasound is accurate for the diagnosis and even that extent of sonographic findings can correlate with the severity of disease. Now we ask - could it provide a superior diagnostic strategy to even our beloved PCR?? https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/105 https://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(20)31269-5/fulltext

GEL Live! Optic Nerve Sheath Diameter & How to G.E.L.

We are back for Part 2 of this raucous jamboree! Creagh, Mike, and the gang from Denver Health Ultrasound continue sounding the depths of the article on optic nerve sheath diameter in patients with elevated intracranial pressure. There are more lessons learned about general principles in dissecting POCUS articles. This is Part 2 of 2 episodes! https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/104

GEL Live! Optic Nerve Sheath Diameter & How to G.E.L.

This episode is a real holiday special! Creagh and Mike collaborate with the Denver Health Ultrasound team to do a live (at the time) journal club on a recent article about optic nerve sheath diameter. We do a deep dive into the intricacies of the article but also develop important general principles for Gathering Evidence from the POCUS Literature. This is Part 1 of 2 episodes! https://www.ultrasoundgel.org/103