Ultrasound for bleeding disorders

Point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) is the real-time, goal-oriented use of ultrasound, by a healthcare provider, to acquire immediate information at a patient's bedside, with the intent of diagnostic, procedural, and therapeutic guidance. PoCUS has attained increased significance and widespread use in the fields of emergency medicine and critical care, with its advantageous feature of answering specific diagnostic questions in a quick and safe manner. In anesthesiology, ultrasound has a definite role in regional anesthesiology, cardiothoracic anesthesiology, pain medicine, and obtaining vascular access. However, with expanding PoCUS applications in pulmonary, airway, and abdominal evaluation, there is now the need for further PoCUS education, training and utilization. PoCUS use in perioperative care enhances the prospects of providing patients optimal care. This chapter will discuss the basic principles of point-of-care ultrasound, its indications, benefits and disadvantages, and the necessary actions for it to be more ubiquitously used in anesthesiology.