Precision medicine: "Point of Care Ultrasound" (PoCUS) in the diagnostic approach to the patient with hyponatremia.

Hyponatremia is a multifactorial disorder defined as a decrease in plasma sodium concentration. Its differential diagnosis requires an adequate evaluation of the extracellular volume (ECV). However, ECV determination, simply based on the clinical history, vital signs, physical examination, and laboratory findings can leads to misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment. The use of Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS), through the combination of Lung Ultrasound (LUS), Venous Excess UltraSound (VExUS) and Focused Cardiac Ultrasound (FoCUS), allows a much more accurate holistic assessment of the patient's ECV status in combination with the other parameters.

Medicina de precisión: «Point of Care Ultrasound» (PoCUS) en el abordaje diagnóstico del paciente con hiponatremia / Precision medicine: “Point of Care Ultrasound” (PoCUS) in the diagnostic approach to the patient with hyponatremia

La hiponatremia es un trastorno multifactorial definido como una disminución en la concentración plasmática de sodio. Su diagnóstico diferencial requiere una evaluación adecuada del volumen extracelular. Sin embargo, la determinación del volumen extracelular, simplemente basada en la historia clínica, las constantes vitales, el examen físico y los hallazgos de laboratorio, conducen en ocasiones a un diagnóstico erróneo por lo que el enfoque terapéutico puede ser equivocado. El empleo de ecografía a pie de cama (Point-of-Care Ultrasound [PoCUS]), mediante la combinación de ecografía pulmonar (Lung Ultrasound [LUS]), Venous Excess UltraSound (VExUS) y la ecocardioscopia (Focused Cardiac Ultrasound [FoCUS]) permiten, en combinación con el resto de los parámetros, una valoración holística mucho más precisa del estado del volumen extracelular del paciente.(AU)

Hyponatremia is a multifactorial disorder defined as a decrease in plasma sodium concentration. Its differential diagnosis requires an adequate evaluation of the extracellular volume. However, extracellular volume determination, simply based on the clinical history, vital signs, physical examination, and laboratory findings can leads to misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment. The use of Point-of-Care Ultrasound (PoCUS), through the combination of Lung Ultrasound (LUS), Venous Excess UltraSound (VExUS) and Focused Cardiac Ultrasound (FoCUS), allows a much more accurate holistic assessment of the patient's extracellular volume status in combination with the other parameters.(AU)