PROBETROTTERS

Welcome to Probetrotters, the dedicated Ultrasound blog of the St. John’s Riverside EM residency!

Below you’ll find our monthly resident and faculty education posts and discussions, reviewed by our Ultrasound faculty. Click on the following posts for the full reviews!

Dr. Maria Tran  Journal Article Review
Dr. Tran reviews a study about utilizing ocular ultrasound to measure the optic nerve sheath diameter as a potential method to predict mortality and functional outcomes among stroke patients presenting to the emergency department and ICU.

Dr. Nitin Kuppanda  Journal Article Review
Dr. Kuppanda reviews an article suggesting the use of POCUS in the ED for tube thoracostomy site selection as an alternative to using landmarks for insertion. 

Dr. Thomas Weiss  Journal Article Review
Dr. Weiss reviews a study that evaluates the difference in medical student knowledge and scanning ability after the use of a medical simulator.

Participants at the competition:

St. John’s Riverside Hospital
NYP-Columbia
St. Barnabas Hospital
Lincoln Hospital
Jacobi/Montefiore Hospital

Dr. Alina Mitina  Journal Article Review
Dr. Mitina reviews a study that evaluates the use of ultrasound-guided nerve blocks instead of procedural sedation for shoulder reductions.

Dr. Curtis Marino  Journal Article Review
Dr. Marino reviews current literature that evaluates uncommon but crucial ocular diagnoses made with ultrasound guidance.

Dr. Danielle Brining  Medical Education
Dr. Brining explains the setup, techniques, steps, pearls and pitfalls about placing USGIVs.  

Dr. Bilal Zeftawi  Journal Article Review Dr. Zeftawi reviews current literature on two common approaches to the POCUS evaluation of DVTs. The 3 point evaluation provides additional images, but in practice, is this more useful than the faster 2 point evaluation?

Dr. Ilana Rosner  Medical Education
Dr. Rosner discusses ultrasound guided methodologies for identifying peritonsillar abscesses (PTA). PTAs are the most common deep neck infections, and 80% of cases are found in patients aged 10 to 40. Ultrasound is an important modality in differentiating, diagnosing and treating PTAs in the ED, with both intraoral and transcutaneous ultrasound as viable options.

Dr. Nathan Denicoff  Journal Article Review
With sufficient training, emergency physicians can effectively use three-point compression ultrasound to diagnose proximal lower extremity DVTs. This prospective cross-sectional study assessed the accuracy of emergency physician-performed three-point compression ultrasound to diagnose DVT in comparison to the standard radiology-performed Doppler ultrasound.

Dr. Mary McLean  Medical Education
Transesophageal Echocardiography (TEE) is increasingly used in emergency departments to guide cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as an alternative to the more common Trans Thoracic Echo (TTE). TEE provides a visual stimulus during pulse checks, allowing the resuscitation team to evaluate ongoing chest compressions, and can provide additional diagnostic information.

Dr. Nishad Rahman  Journal Article Review
Acute chest syndrome is the leading cause of mortality in patients with sickle cell disease. As a result, these patients experience multiple radiological exposures starting at very young ages. Dr. Rahman reviews the use of the bedside ultrasound for evaluation of acute chest syndrome in the pediatric population.

Expert Content Reviewers

Angela Cirilli, MD, RDMS, FACEP

Ultrasound Director, Department of Emergency Medicine

Ellen Kurkowski, DO

Associate Ultrasound Director

Connie Yu, MD

Director of Resident Education in Ultrasound