Affiliation:
1. Medical Centre Hospital of the President’s Affairs Administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan
2. Municipal Clinical Hospital #52 at the Health Care Department of Moscow City
3. I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University
Abstract
This review focused on ultrasound examination of lungs, a useful complement to transthoracic echocardiography (EchoCG), which is superior to chest X-ray in the diagnostic value. The lung acoustic window always remains open and allows obtaining high-quality images in most cases. For a cardiologist, the major points of the method application are determination of pleural effusion and lung congestion. This method has a number of advantages: it is time-saving; cost-effective; portable and accessible; can be used in a real-time mode; not associated with radiation; reproducible; and highly informative. The ultrasound finding of wet lungs would indicate threatening, acute cardiac decompensation long before appearance of clinical, auscultative, and radiological signs of lung congestion. Modern EchoCG should include examination of the heart and lungs as a part of a single, integrative ultrasound examination.
Publisher
APO Society of Specialists in Heart Failure
Subject
Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine