Bedside ultrasound provides easy way to monitor lungs of heart failure patients

June 24, 2008 Bedside ultrasound provides easy way to monitor lungs of heart failure patients Wendy Despain -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bedside ultrasound can be a valuable diagnostic tool for monitoring pulmonary congestion in patients with acute decompensated heart failure. As the heart weakens, fluid backs up into the lungs, and critical patients could benefit greatly by being monitored for their condition without having to be moved for radiographs or other diagnostic tests. Roughly a quarter of a million people die each year of heart failure, the leading cause of hospitalization in adults over 65. The estimated direct cost for heart failure in 2006 in the U.S. was $29.6 billion, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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