Emergency medicine clinics of North America
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Emergency echocardiography refers to the use of cardiac ultrasound to address critical and time-sensitive clinical questions during the initial evaluation and treatment of the critically ill patient presenting to the emergency department. The information obtained can be pivotal to a physician's clinical decision making and can guide further diagnostic or therapeutic interventions. This article provides an evidence-based discussion of the common uses of emergency transthoracic echocardiography, as well as its benefits and limitations in the current practice of emergency medicine.