ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM - IS IT FEASIBLE, BENEFICIAL, AND COST-EFFECTIVE

Echocardiography in the emergency room presents exciting practice poss ibilities that cart facilitate prompt and reliable diagnostic evaluati ons in patients with suspected cardiovascular emergencies. Echocardiog raphy has the diagnostic potentials to evaluate the entire spectrum of cardiovascular abnormalities short of delineating coronary anatomy, a nd evaluation of the conduction system. By reliably assessing the glob al and regional function, visualizing the cardiovascular structures fr om multiple tomographic planes, and quantitating hemodynamic abnormali ties, echocardiography should be able to assist emergency room physici an's evaluation. and triage of the patients with chest pain syndrome, unexplained dyspnea, hypotension, shock chest trauma, and cardiac arre st, whereby hopefully minimizing the unnecessary admission to the hosp ital and facilitating inhospital evaluation of the admitted patients w ith echocardiographic information. However, the optimal echocardiograp hy practice in the emergency room requires well trained sonongraphers and echocardiographers who can respond to the clinical needs at anytim e. Whether an emergency room physician can perform and interpret echoc ardiographic examinations satisfactorily will depend on his/her level of training and continuing education in this area. Currently, there is no established guideline for performing echocardiography in the emerg ency room. Further clinical investigations are necessary to define the most optimal and economical utilization of this versatile imaging and hemodynamic diagnostic modality in the emergency room.