Place of Jugular Ultrasound in the Evaluation of the Volemia by a Clinician Doctor in Routine Care (JUVIA)

To appreciate the volemia of a patient is a frequent problem in hospital in various situations: renal insufficiency, dyspnea, dysnatremia, etc. The aging of the population, the chronicity of pathologies, overweight among other causes can make it difficult to assess the volume of the disease by the clinic alone. The consequences of a poor evaluation are delayed management and possible iatrogeny.

New discrimination markers have emerged to help the clinician such as "brain natriuretic peptide (BNP)" in dyspnea, and especially transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) assessing filling pressures with a high potency. discrimination. In current practice the TTE has unequal accessibility, and requires trained practitioners. It is difficult to have an TTE performed for all patients where the question arises.

Just as an assessment of the initial volemia is often necessary, there are few objective monitoring criteria. One can quote the variation of the weight or the evolution of certain biological parameters but none is completely specific.

A new marker has been described for a few years: jugular ultrasound. Better accessibility (requires only a probe of 7-9Hz, possibly 5Hz), it can indeed be performed by any practitioner in less than a minute. The jugular distension is a reflection of cardiac pre-load and can be correctly estimated by ultrasound. It has been shown that cardiac decompensated patients have dilated jugular veins compared to a reference population. A low cohort also demonstrated the presence of jugular ultrasound distension in the absence of clinical distension.

In a US study, 119 patients admitted to the emergency department for dyspnea had a sensitivity of 99% for a specificity of 59% for trans-jugular ultrasound in cardiogenic edema.