The role of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in the differential diagnosis of acute dyspnea

Ekaterina Yu. Aldyukhova , Alexandra A. Knyazkova , Ekaterina S. Ladanova , Nadezhda V. Mukhina , Irina S. Komarova , Svetlana A. Rachina

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Abstract

This study analyzes the clinical application of point-of-care ultrasound examination (POCUS) and underscores the necessity of developing a standardized POCUS protocol integrating respiratory, cardiac, and vascular assessments to improve the differential diagnosis of acute dyspnea.
Aim. To evaluate the diagnostic benefit of POCUS in acute dyspnea and assess its clinical significance.
Materials and methods. A systematic literature search was conducted in the eLIBRARY and MEDLINE/PubMed data bases using the keywords: dyspnea, focused echocardiography, POCUS, FoCUS, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, post-COVID syndrome. Article types included clinical trials, meta-analyses, reviews, and systematic reviews published in English or Russian.
Results. We reviewed the protocols used in practice and noted the relevance of developing a unified step-by-step algorithm for diagnosing respiratory and cardiac causes of dyspnea.
Conclusion. There are several protocols available for identifying causes of dyspnea. We need to develop a combined step-by-step algorithm for diagnosing cardiac and respiratory causes of acute dyspnea in the future.
Keywords: dyspnea, FoCUS, POCUS, post-covid syndrome.

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For citation:Аldyukhova E.Yu., Knyazkova A.A., Ladanova E.S., Mukhina N.V., Komarova I.S., Rachina S.A. The role of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in the differential diagnosis of acute dyspnea. Clinical review for general practice. 2025; 6 (10): 106–112 (In Russ.). DOI: 10.47407/kr2025.6.10.00

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Clinical review for general practice