Cardiac Ultrasound

Significant blunt cardiac injury is relatively uncommon. Most patients who suffer severe cardiac injury such as rupture of the free ventricular wall die quickly. One research report described patients with blunt cardiac rupture who were rapidly diagnosed and aggressively managed because of early bedside ultrasound. The authors stressed the importance of prompt cardiac ultrasound in all patients with significant blunt chest trauma.Cardiac rupture causes a pericardial effusion, which will be easily recognized during the FAST exam. Severe global ventricular dysfunction may also be noted during the FAST exam, more likely the result of severe acidosis from hypovolemic shock than blunt cardiac injury. Although blunt cardiac rupture is rare,

Valuable diagnostic information can be obtained from the ability to view bone surfaces. For example, Blankstein observes that fractures can be seen as disruptions in the cortex. Many types of pathology can be identified as cortical irregularities including Hill-Sachs disease, osteolytic lesions, exostoses, and osteophytes. Bone tumors have been evaluated with ultrasound. Ultrasound is particularly advantageous in this case because blood flow to the tumor can be assessed in the same exam using Doppler settings. Pathologies wherein tendons pull a portion of Cortical bone away from the bone surface, such as Osgood-Schlatter disease and avulsion fractures, are often well depicted with ultrasound. Stress fractures too small to be seen on radiographs can often be directly seen with ultrasound. Ultrasound is also a valuable tool for diagnosing and monitoring rheumatic diseases. The orthopedic pathologies which can be diagnosed with ultrasound are numerous. Ultrasound has a wide variety of uses in orthopedics that extend beyond routine diagnosis of bone irregularities. Ultrasound plays a role in orthopedic trauma, orthopedic surgery, and even bone densitometry. The following three article summaries demonstrate the versatility of ultrasound in its orthopedic