Critical Care
The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary and Critical Care publishes articles directed to those who treat patients in the ICU, CCU and SICU including chest physicians, surgeons, pediatricians, pharmacists/pharmacologists, anesthesiologists, critical care nurses, and other healthcare professionals. Manuscripts may be either basic or clinical original investigations or review articles. Potential authors of review articles are encouraged to contact the editors before submission, however, unsolicited review articles will be considered.
Ultrasound for Critical Care Physicians: Lung Sliding and the Seashore Sign
Spencer M. Lee, MD
Gregory T. Chu, MD
Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center
Phoenix, AZ
A 70-year-old Native American woman was having increasing difficulty with ventilation. She had an extensive past medical history including quadriplegia after a motor vehicle accident in 2009, chronic mechanical ventilation since the accident, end-stage renal disease, and diabetes mellitus. A feeding tube had recently been inserted. A portable chest radiograph was performed (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Portable chest radiograph.
A lung ultrasound was performed (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Lung ultrasound of the left lung (upper panel) and of the right lung (lower panel).
M-mode images of the ultrasound are shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. M-mode image of the left lung (panel A on left) and the right lung (Panel B on right).
Which of the following are true regarding the images presented? (Click on the correct answer to procced to the next and final panel)
- The chest x-ray shows the feeding tube in the right lung
- The M-mode image shows the seashore sign on the left suggestive of a pneumothorax
- The ultrasound shows an absence of lung sliding on the right suggestive of a pneumothorax
- 1 and 3
- All of the above
Reference as: Lee SM, Chu GT. Ultrasound for critical care physicians: lung sliding and the seashore sign. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2014;9(6):337-40. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc163-14 PDF