Lung Ultrasound as an Evolving Tool in Detection of Extravascular Lung Water in Septic Cancer Patients.

Sepsis is a common serious problem in surgical critical care units.Septic shock can be a consequence of severe sepsis with high mortality rate, in which there is major disturbance on the cellular, metabolic and circulatory levels . Patients who suffer from malignancy or under chemotherapeutic treatment are at higher risk of sepsis.Postoperative cancer patients carry both the risk of underlying malignancy with superimposed risk of major surgical procedure.Upon recognition of septic shock, management should start promptly, aiming at effective restoration of the intravascular volume, identification, control of source of infection and starting empiric intravenous antimicrobials. This is a common problem in critically ill patients especially in presence of sepsis. Monitoring effective fluid resuscitation and patient's hemodynamic status is achieved through different techniques mainly by measuring central venous pressure (CVP), pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (PAOP) and transpulmonary thermodilution along with chest radiography analysis.Recently lung ultrasound evolved as a novel tool for assessment of extravascular lung water (EVLW) and lung congestion. It is a bed side noninvasive assessment tool. EVLW accumulation is diagnosed through interpretation of B-Lines which are echoic Vertical, comet-tail-like lines extending from the pleura line to the screen edge without fading .The normal lung pattern of no-echo signal or black lung, changes into black and white pattern with lung congestion, then into white lung pattern with alveolar pulmonary edema .This study aims to investigate the correlation between lung ultrasound and IVC collapsibility index in assessment of fluid responsiveness in cancer patients with septic shock.