Focus Thoracic Ultrasound for Dyspnea Diagnosis in Elderly Patient in the ED: Prospective Observational Study

Dyspnea is associated with a variety of etiology whose diagnosis is challenging especially in elderly patients with unconventional symptoms. Focus thoracic ultrasound is composed by an advanced cardiac ultrasound with Doppler measures and a lung ultrasound. It has already demonstrated its ability to reduce diagnosis uncertainty in emergency patients with dyspnea. However, adequacy of diagnosis before and after thoracic ultrasound has not been investigated in such patients.

In this population, after clinical examination and use of any resource deemed necessary, the physician states its hypothesis in closed list. An emergency physician then realizes a thoracic ultrasound exam. An adjudication committee with all the patient's file will state the reference hypothesis.