Ultrasound for Critical Care Physicians: Sickle Cell Crisis

Friday, August 23, 2013 at 12:57PM
Rick Robbins, M.D. in echocardiography, enlarged right atrium, enlarged right ventricle, pulmonary artery hypertension, pulmonary complications, sickle cell chest syndrome, sickle cell crisis, ultrasound

A 32 year old man was admitted a week earlier with sickle cell pain crisis. He had developed increasing dyspnea, oxygen desaturation and bilateral pulmonary infiltrates.  He had a pulseless electric activity code blue and an ultrasound of the heart was obtained (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Subxiphoid view ultrasound of the heart.

What does the ultrasound show?

1. Aortic dissection
2. Aortic stenosis
3. Enlarged left ventricle
4. Enlarged right ventricle
5. Pericardial effusion

Reference as: Raschke RA. Ultrasound for critical care physicians: sickle cell crisis. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2013:7(2):110-1. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc113-13 PDF

Article originally appeared on Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep (https://www.swjpcc.com/).