title: Lung ultrasound: a new tool for the cardiologist.
abstract: For many years the lung has been considered off-limits for ultrasound. However, it has been recently shown that lung ultrasound (LUS) may represent a useful tool for the evaluation of many pulmonary conditions in cardiovascular disease. The main application of LUS for the cardiologist is the assessment of B-lines. B-lines are reverberation artifacts, originating from water-thickened pulmonary interlobular septa. Multiple B-lines are present in pulmonary congestion, and may help in the detection, semiquantification and monitoring of extravascular lung water, in the differential diagnosis of dyspnea, and in the prognostic stratification of chronic heart failure and acute coronary syndromes.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council of Pisa, Italy. gargani@ifc.cnr.it
authors.forename: Luna
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gargani
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000639:trends*