Point of care ultrasound - a way to reduce radiation exposure of patients and medical staff

Introduction Lungs ultrasonography and echocardiography is used by intensivist to provide assessments in patients with significant respiratory and cardiac diseases. Transthoracic lung ultrasound allows to detect lung aerations and consolidations, to find pneumothorax or hydrothorax, localize alveolar-interstitial edema. It is also used as a monitoring tool to detect reaeration resulting from efficient treatment of pneumonia and lung recruitment resulting from PEEP. All the ultrasonographic measurements are made noninvasively and at the patient’s bedside. Lung ultrasonography has been performed in our ICU for three years. Since then a tendency to reduce number of chest x-rays and chest CT has been observed.