Focused Canine Cardiac Ultrasound

Focused cardiac ultrasound (FCU) is a useful point-of-care imaging tool to assess cardiovascular status in symptomatic dogs in the acute care setting. Unlike complete echocardiography, FCU is a time-sensitive examination involving a subset of targeted ultrasound views to identify severe cardiac abnormalities and is performed as part of an integrated thoracic ultrasound including interrogation of the pleural space and lungs. When integrated with other clinical information, FCU can be helpful in the diagnosis of left-sided and right-sided congestive heart failure, pericardial effusion and tamponade, and severe pulmonary hypertension, and can provide estimates of fluid responsiveness in hypotensive dogs.