Effect of chest ultrasound on diagnostic workup in elderly patients with acute respiratory failure in the emergency department: a prospective study

Conclusion In our study, chest ultrasound add-on investigation to standard approach improved diagnosis performance in elderly patients presenting to the ED with acute respiratory failure. Further multicenter randomized trials are warranted to confirm this finding. Diagnostic assessment of acute respiratory failure in elderly patients is often challenging, and initial misdiagnosis is associated with poorer outcomes. Chest ultrasound could help to improve diagnostic performance in this population. The objective of our study was to assess chest ultrasound (i.e. combined cardiac and lung ultrasound) add-on investigation to standard diagnosis approach in elderly patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with acute respiratory failure.
Source: European Journal of Emergency Medicine - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research