Vascular Ultrasound - Aorta & Lower Extremity Veins

Vascular Ultrasound - Aorta & Lower Extremity Veins

It's a frosty Easter morning and the ED is "q!&%t," all except for the 2 patient's turned over to you by the night ranger.  You greet the first patient, a 75 yo M complaining of flank pain - probably a kidney stone you think to yourself as you walk in to the room.  Walking into the room, you see the patient rolling around on the stretcher (as one would expect from those with a stone jammed in the UVJ), but something about his presentation strikes you as odd - a bit of diaphoresis, clammy pale skin.  It could just be pain, but the specter of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm still looms large in your differential diagnosis.  You quickly exit the room, grab the ultrasound machine and head back in to take a look at his aorta...

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