In this study we demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy for the Echo-US protocol performed by an emergency physician to identify the type of shock in ED. When compared with the final inpatient diagnosis, our protocol had an accuracy ranging between 89.29 and 100%. This suggests a place for more extended Echo-US (beyond traditional basic scanning) as part of clinical assessment in ED.
The protocol showed excellent rule- out characteristics for cardiogenic shock (sensitivity and NPV = 100%). It also had excellent agreement with Kappa index of = 0.842. In a similar study by Ghane et al. [18] showed sensitivity of 91.7%, NPV (97%) and kappa index = 0.89. Important causes of cardiogenic shock detected by our protocol included acute mitral regurgitation due to rupture chordae, mitral stenosis, aortic stenosis and regurgitation thus; valve assessment in any shocked patient should be emphasized.
This protocol showed highest accuracy in obstructive shock. These results are comparable to the work done by Ghane et al. [8], demonstrating sensitivity of 100%; specificity = 97%, PPV 87.5%, NPV 100% and Kappa index = 0.92. This also agrees with a study done by Vaidya et al. [9] which found maximum sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV for obstructive shock with a kappa index of =1. This may be attributed to the fact that echo signs of massive pulmonary embolism were evident and ultrasound finding of pneumothorax were easily identified.
A common ED diagnostic dilemma is to differentiate between hypovolemic and distributive shock and consequently, when to stop fluids and start vasopressor therapy. Differentiation between these types of shock by different ultrasound protocols was not easy as both types had normal or hyperdynamic LV function, small collapsible IVC and positive FAST. With the addition of LVOT VTI and ultrasound finding of pneumonia sensitivity for detection of distributive shock increased to 84.69%. This was higher than the results shown by Keikha et al. [19] and Ghane et al. who reported sensitivity of 73 and 75% respectively.
For patients with distributive shock, 64.77% of them had LVOT VTI ≥ 18 cm while 35.23% had LVOT VTI < 18 cm which was statistically significant (p (MC) = 0.000) because distributive shock had normal or increased cardiac output unlike other types of shock which had reduced cardiac output. This is may be attributed to patients present at different pathophysiological changes with variable cardiac output and subsequent VTI. Moreover, some cases were severely volume contracted which resulted in low VTI, whilst others had preexisting ischemic heart disease with subsequently low cardiac output.
Hypovolemic shock showed Kappa index of 0.48, which was lower than other studies done by Bagheri et al. [7] and Ghane et al. [18] with kappa index 0.75 and 0.92 respectively. This lower agreement with the present study is due to some cases showing initial impression of hypovolemic shock according to the protocol which then proved to be septic shock in final diagnosis.
Our protocol was feasible to all patients with a median time of 16.7 minutes. This is longer than the duration of scan in a study carried out by Rahulkumar et al.(20) with mean time of 12 min. Obese patients and patients with poor echo and ultrasound views were not excluded from the study which resulted in longer exam time (> 20 minutes) in 15.7% of cases. Scanning such patients is often a challenge and time consuming but this improved the diagnostic certainty.
The Echo-US protocol had identified 55 patients (39.3%) where the protocol was more sensitive in early determining of the etiology and thus had their management altered to target the newly identified conditions.
Patients with cardiogenic shock two cases had severe valve lesion and one case had mechanical complication of acute myocardial infarction which would have been treated improperly without the use of Echo-US protocol.
One patient came in near arrest circumstances where pericardiocentesis was done immediately as a lifesaving intervention and complete assessment demonstrated presence of mixed shock etiology.
Echo- US protocol had solved the dilemma where the clinical picture overlap, as three middle age male patients presented with dyspnea, shock and history of intravenous drug use. This study revealed septic shock etiology due to chest infection and infective endocarditis in the first case; mixed septic- obstructive shock due to pneumothorax and empyema in the second case; and the last case had mixed septic cardiogenic shock. Three cases presented with shock and abdominal pain where one of them was identified with intraabdominal hemorrhage, while the other cases had ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.
Two cases of acute pulmonary embolism would have been misdiagnosed without this protocol as one case had initial impression of septic shock and the other case as cardiogenic shock.
For patients with mixed septic cardiogenic shock (10% of cases) early use of echo in these cases resulted in more caution administration of fluid.
Underlying source of sepsis such as infective endocarditis, chest infection and intraabdominal source were identified in 44% of cases with septic shock and subsequent initiation of specific therapy.
In this study, we highlighted the role of an extended Echo-US protocol as a potentially accurate method for rapid diagnosis of shock etiology in ED. While basic ultrasound is an integral part of emergency medicine practice in many settings, there is likely room for more advanced Echo- US techniques in emergency care. The paradigm should be shifted to more advanced echocardiography and ultrasound scan which are feasible as they are goal directed rather than comprehensive. Emergency physician should be competent in image acquisition and interpretation of all parameters used in this protocol and able to integrate different findings together. This requires didactic lessons, hands on sessions and review of examinations until the emergency physician can safely integrate these skills.
Future research should focus on the emergency physician learning curve of these techniques; inter-rater reliability; and impact on the ED decision making and patient related outcomes.