Circulatory shock is characterized by a state of inefficient tissue oxygen supply and multiple organ dysfunction. Patients with circulatory shock require fast and assertive diagnosis and therapies to reduce its high lethality. Echocardiography has already been established as a fundamental method in managing patients with circulatory shock. It provides crucial assistance in etiological diagnosis, prognosis, hemodynamic monitoring, and volume estimation in these patients; its potential advantages include portability, absence of contrast or radiation, low cost, and real-time serial assessment. In the intensive care unit setting, it demonstrates a high correlation with invasive (pulmonary artery catheter) and minimally invasive (transpulmonary thermodilution) forms of hemodynamic monitoring. Currently, other techniques, such as pulmonary ultrasound and VExUS score, have been added to echocardiographic assessment, making the method more comprehensive and accurate. These techniques add relevant data to blood volume estimation in critical patients, influencing the probabilistic decision of fluid responsiveness and providing additional information in the diagnostic reasoning of the causes of shock, thus optimizing these patients' prognosis. Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) aims to make abilities to obtain information at the bedside more accessible to physicians who are not specialists in radiology, by means of ultrasound, which assists them in decision-making. This article addresses the diverse applications of echocardiography in patients with circulatory shock, including prognostic evaluation and etiological diagnosis by means of the parameters found in the main causes of shock, in addition to hemodynamic monitoring, evaluation of fluid responsiveness, and practical use of pulmonary ultrasound.
Mitral annulus disjunction (MAD) is an abnormal insertion of the flexion line of the mitral annulus into the atrial wall. The annulus presents a separation (disjunction) between the posterior leaflet–atrial wall junction and the left ventricular myocardial crest.1 MAD was first described more than 30 years ago in an autopsy study and is reportedly related to mitral valve prolapse (MVP) in 92% of cases.2 Since then, several studies have been conducted, and reports on the prevalence of MAD in patients with MVP have varied. Ultimately, it may or may not be associated with mitral regurgitation. Transthoracic echocardiography is part of initial MVP assessment, allowing its diagnosis and the assessment of related complications. As new diagnostic methods emerged, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and transesophageal echocardiography improved the assessment of this pathology in terms of its diagnosis, extension, and location. However, the phenotypic characteristics of MVP that are more closely associated with MAD remain uncertain mainly due to the limited number of patients in classic studies on the subject. Patients with MAD may develop symptoms related to ventricular arrhythmias, configuring the MAD arrhythmic syndrome, which may progress to sudden death. The literature presents conflicting prognostic data among several studies on the subject from clear diagnostic criteria and best imaging method to be used to treatment and prognosis. This review describes MAD characteristics associated (or not) with valve prolapse to improve the diagnosis and management of this important pathology.
A insuficiência cardíaca de fração de ejeção reduzida (ICFEr) agudamente descompensada é uma das principais causas de internação hospitalar em nosso meio com taxa de reinternação em 90 dias de 50%. A utilização de ferramentas adicionais na avaliação da função do ventrículo esquerdo (VE), como a medida de deformação miocárdica através do Strain Longitudinal Global do VE (SGL), tem maior valor prognóstico do que a avaliação da fração de ejeção do VE (FEVE) pelo método de Simpson. Apesar de a análise da deformidade miocárdica através do SGL ser considerada um preditor independente de mortalidade em pacientes com ICFEr, é um parâmetro que sofre alterações da pré e pós-carga e, portanto, apresenta limitações quanto à avaliação da performance ventricular.– O trabalho miocárdio ou myocardial work (MW) tem se destacado nos últimos anos como uma ferramenta complementar para acessar parâmetros de função miocárdica a partir da análise derivada do SGL, com a vantagem de incorporar informações de pós-carga por meio da interpretação da curva dinâmica de deformidade por pressão de enchimento do VE não invasiva. Desta forma, a análise do MW tem sido promissora em pacientes com ICFEr, e, quando analisado em conjunto aos parâmetros hemodinâmicos clássicos, pode agregar informações com maior acurácia e valor prognóstico no cenário de descompensação cardíaca.
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