Diagnostic Evaluation of Patients Presenting with Dyspnea to the Emergency Department Using Bedside Focused Ultrasonography

Objective: One of the most desired aspects in the emergency department is for a diagnostic tool to provide rapid and accurate results. Conventional imaging tools often deliver delayed results with limited data. Based on this premise, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy and efficacy of Bedside Focused Ultrasonography (BFUS). Methods: A prospective diagnostic accuracy study was designed. Out of 92 patients presenting to our clinic with dyspnea, 77 were analyzed. Lung, cardiac, and Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) sonographic evaluations were performed on all patients by an investigator blinded to laboratory and imaging results. The agreement between the diagnoses made using BFUS and those determined by the attending physician (considered the gold standard) was compared along with imaging acquisition times. Results: The Kappa values for acute heart failure and pneumonia were found to be 0.946 and 0.863, respectively. Additionally, BFUS was performed in a significantly shorter time compared to chest radiography and computed tomography (p<0.001). Our findings support similar studies in the literature. Conclusion: BFUS can be rapidly applied with high diagnostic accuracy, particularly for acute heart failure and pneumonia, in patients presenting with dyspnea.