Excerpt from Ultrasonography, Cardiac

Synonyms, Key Words, and Related Terms: echocardiography, transthoracic echocardiography, echo, transesophageal echocardiography, cardiac ultrasonography, cardiac sonogram

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Background

Echocardiography is particularly useful in emergency medicine for a variety of cardiac disorders. It affords a rapid, noninvasive, and dynamic profile of the heart for many conditions in patients presenting to the ED.

Mortality/Morbidity

Early diagnosis of cardiac dysfunction or significant injuries can prevent morbidity and mortality and have a positive effect on patient outcome.

Penetrating cardiac injury: Immediate identification of penetrating cardiac injuries with ED echocardiography can improve survival rates and neurologic outcomes.
Nontraumatic cardiac rupture: Patients with cardiac rupture as a complication of acute myocardial infarction usually have a poor outcome. Early identification with echocardiography can enhance survival and prevent administration of thrombolytic therapy, which would have catastrophic results.
Nontraumatic pericardial effusion: Prompt identification may guide therapy in view of this potentially difficult diagnosis.
Pulmonary embolus: Patients in whom pulmonary embolus with right ventricular hypokinesis is demonstrated with echocardiography may benefit from thrombolytic therapy.
Pulseless electrical activity: Echocardiograph may reveal potentially treatable causes of this condition.

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