July 2020 - Ultrasound of the Month

Dr. Amin Mohamadi & Dr. Abraham Chacko

Flora Williams (PA) at Harlem Hospital was seeing a 49 year old Male with no PMH on 7/12/20. He had been seen over a month prior for epigastric pain, N/V.  He had normal labs at the time and was treated and discharged with a diagnosis of gastritis. He returned to Harlem ED with the same complaint as well as occasional SOB with deep inspiration. Triage VS were normal.  A critical decision was made to practice scanning the aorta and the following images were obtained:

Thanks to this imaging patient ended up getting a CTA which revealed a type A dissection that extended all the way to the right common iliac artery. Images of the CTA seen here:

The patient was transferred to Bellevue where he underwent dissection repair and aortic valve replacement.  As of today patient is doing well and pending discharge once his INR reaches therapeutic levels.  This was a great catch by the ultrasound team and a great example of what ultrasound can do for our clinical practice to improve patient outcomes.

Congratulations to them and looking forward to August's submissions.

The US crew