Quantitative assessment of pleural effusion in critically ill patients by means of ultrasonography.

Objective: To assess the ability of ultrasonography to identify the presence and assess the volume of pleural effusion in the intensive care unit setting.

Design: Prospective descriptive clinical study.

Setting: Medical-surgical intensive care unit of a teaching hospital.

Diagnostic ability of hand-held echocardiography in ventilated critically ill patients.

Study Objectives: To compare the diagnostic capability of recently available hand-held echocardiography (HHE) and of conventional transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) used as a gold standard in critically ill patients under mechanical ventilation.

Design: A prospective and descriptive study.

Setting: The general intensive care unit of a teaching hospital.