Can Cardiopulmonary POCUS Enhance Detection and Management of Undifferentiated Dyspnea?

For patients with undifferentiated dyspnea, cardiopulmonary point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) may have a considerable impact in reducing length of stay and hospitalization costs, according to recent research.

Assessing the implementation of cardiopulmonary POCUS (Butterfly iQ3) in a cohort of 208 patients (median age of 71) with undifferentiated dyspnea, the authors of a new study published in JAMA Network Open found over a three-day reduction in expected length of stay (LOS) in comparison to a control group (8.3 mean LOS days vs.11.9 mean LOS days).

In a recent interview with Diagnostic Imaging, Partho Sengupta, M.D., said cardiopulmonary POCUS helped rule out significant cardiovascular causes of dyspnea in a “high number of instances,” obviating the need for additional tests and longer hospital stays. Cardiopulmonary POCUS also enabled hospitalists to detect a wide variety of conditions, ranging from left ventricular dysfunction to pulmonary edema, and facilitate changes in treatment plans, according to Dr. Sengupta.

“(In) 30 percent of cases, (cardiopulmonary POCUS) contributed to a major change in how the patients were managed,” pointed out Dr. Sengupta, a Henry Rutgers Professor of Cardiology and chief of the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and Hypertension at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, N.J.

Cumulative analysis from the study revealed that cardiopulmonary POCUS was associated with a 246 hospital bed day reduction as well as $751,573 in cost savings.

“ … That was a cumulative impact on the length of the stay and also on the hospital cost, which is huge. Imagine if you multiply that, there's so many patients. … (Usually, there is) increased cost when you introduce a new technology. (This is) one of the rare ones where you reduce the cost and length of stay, which is very exciting,” added Dr. Sengupta.

(Editor’s note: For related content, see “POCUS Improves Diagnostic Certainty for Dyspnea Patients, ACP Says,” “Portable Imaging and Radiology: Where Things Stand with Point-of-Care Diagnostics” and “Fujifilm Sonosite Unveils High-Frequency Transducer for Point-of-Care Ultrasound.”)

For more insights from Dr. Sengupta and Davinder Ramsingh, Ph.D., the vice president of clinical research and development for Butterfly Network, watch the video below.