Praxis
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Review
[Emergency ultrasound diagnosis of the thorax for internal medicine and traumatology patients].
Thoracic ultrasound has a high significance in emergency medicine. In case of dyspnoea, it leads quickly and reliably to the causative disease. ⋯ After thoracic trauma, most of the injuries can be detected with sonography: lung contusion, pleural effusion, pericardial effusion, pneumothorax, rib fractures and sternal fractures. In clinically unstable patients, vital decisions can be made based on sonographic results.