Veterinary Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Practice Flashcards

These vocabulary flashcards cover terminology, machine functions, probe manipulations, and pathology signs for Abdominal, Lung, Cardiac, and Vascular POCUS based on the lecture material.

POCUS (Point of Care Ultrasound)

The acquisition, interpretation, and immediate clinical integration of ultrasonographic imaging performed patient-side by an attending clinician with the goal of answering a focused series of questions.

FAST (Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma)

A restricted ultrasound format developed to focus primarily on the search for free fluid in body cavities and pneumothorax.

Gain

A machine function that controls overall brightness, making the image sharper to highlight different structures and pathology.

Depth

A setting used to control how deep ultrasound beams penetrate and adjusted so the organ of interest represents $2/3$ of the visible image on the screen.

Frequency

A setting affecting image quality and depth perception where higher values (e.g., $7.5\,MHz$) provide better superficial resolution and lower values (e.g., $5\,MHz$) allow deeper penetration.

Fanning

A transducer movement where the head remains stationary while the tail moves side-to-side relative to the widest axis.

Rocking

A transducer movement where the head remains stationary while the tail moves side-to-side relative to the shortest axis.

Sweeping

Moving the entire transducer in the short axis direction across the body with a constant angle of insonation.

Sliding

Moving the entire transducer in the long axis direction across the body with a constant angle of insonation.

Rotating

Turning the transducer clockwise or counter-clockwise upon its axis while keeping the contact point stationary.

Mirror image artifact

An artifact occurring distal to the diaphragm that only appears when there is air present, effectively ruling out pleural effusion at that specific location.

Edge shadowing

A pitfall where ultrasound beams create dark shadows on the edges of an organ, which can be mistaken for free fluid or organ rupture.

AFS (Abdominal Fluid Score)

A scoring system from $1$ to $4$ representing the number of positive sites for free fluid in the abdomen used to monitor hemorrhage or resolution of effusion.

Enhanced peritoneal stripe sign

A sonographic finding where free abdominal air in contact with the peritoneal lining causes the lining to become hyper-echoic, often accompanied by reverberation artifact.

Ileus

A transient cessation of gastrointestinal ($GI$) motility or an abnormal pattern of motility often identified by an absence of contractions over a $1$-minute observation.

Halo sign

A double-rimmed gallbladder wall appearance caused by edema, which can be a non-specific sign of anaphylaxis, heart failure, or sepsis.

Bat sign (Gator sign)

The sonographic appearance when the probe is perpendicular to the ribs, where rib heads resemble wings and the pleural line represents the body (or eyes).

Glide sign

A shimmering along the pleural line representing the normal to-and-fro motion of the lung sliding against the chest wall during respiration.

A-lines

Horizontal reverberation artifacts equidistant from the skin to the pleural line that occur when air is present below the pleural line.

B-lines

Vertical hyperechoic streaks originating from the pleural line that extend to the far field, move with the glide sign, and obliterate A-lines.

Curtain sign

The interface between the thorax and abdomen where air causes an artifact that appears as a straight line of soft tissue interface moving during respiration.

Lung pulse

A mini glide sign caused by the heartbeat radiating through the lung to the surface, which rules out pneumothorax at that location.

AIS (Alveolar Interstitial Syndrome)

A condition diagnosed by an increased number of B-lines ($\ge 3$ at a single location) indicating fluid or cells at the lung periphery.

Z-lines

An artifact arising from the parietal pleura that does not move with the glide sign, does not erase A-lines, and disappears after $2\text{--}5\,cm$.

E-lines

Artifacts caused by subcutaneous emphysema that originate superficial to the pleural line and obliterate it, appearing as comet tails.

Sail sign

A triangular shape created by pleural effusion between the lung and the ventral sternal muscles when the probe is parallel to the ribs.

Lung point

The exact point in the thorax where the lung recontacts the parietal pleura to create an intermittent glide sign; it is pathognomonic for pneumothorax.

Shred sign

An irregular consolidation/air interface created when subpleural lung consolidation fails to reach the deep border of the lung.

Hepatization

A tissue sign seen when lung consolidation extends throughout the entire lung, giving it an echotexture similar to the liver.

LA:Ao Ratio

The ratio of the left atrium to the aorta diameter used to differentiate respiratory from cardiac disease; normal values are typically $< 1.3$ (cats) or $< 1.5$ (dogs).

Mushroom view

A right parasternal short axis view of the heart at the level of the papillary muscles used to assess cardiac contractility.

Pseudohypertrophy

A transient reversible condition in hypovolemic patients where the left ventricular walls appear thickened because the lumen has decreased in size.

Seldinger technique

A clinical procedure involving the passage of a guide wire through an IV catheter to facilitate the placement of larger or central catheters.

Afternoon tea technique

A method used to fix the sonographer's hand on a patient's limb or neck to stabilize the probe for ultrasound-guided vascular access.