Diagnosing Acute Heart Failure in the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background

The chief complaint of “dyspnea” represents a very large cohort of patient who present to the emergency department. While acute heart failure (AHF) is a very common diagnosis in the setting of dyspnea, the diagnosis remains challenging when the emergency physician is presented with the undifferentiated dyspneic patient. Interestingly, emergency physicians have varied approaches to the work up and diagnosis of these patients and it is not clear as to which diagnostic element is most crucial in confirming the diagnosis of AHF. Spoiler: Ultrasound proves to be quite useful.

Diagnosing Acute Heart Failure in the Emergency Department: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis‌

 

The Bottom Line

Bedside ultrasound to evaluate for the presence or absence of pulmonary edema should be an integral part of the emergency physicians approach to evaluating patients to the emergency department with undifferentiated dyspnea.

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