title: The V-line: a sonographic aid for the confirmation of pleural fluid.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ultrasound is being used increasingly to diagnose pathological free fluid accumulation at the bedside. In addition to the detection of peritoneal and pericardial fluid, point-of-care ultrasound allows rapid bedside diagnosis of pleural fluid.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this short report, we describe the sonographic observation of the vertebral or 'V-line' to help confirm the presence of pleural fluid in the supine patient. The V-line sign is a result of the fluid acting as an acoustic window to enable visualization of vertebral bodies and posterior thoracic wall, thus confirming the presence of pleural fluid.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The V-line is a useful sonographic sign to aid the diagnosis of pleural free fluid.
authors.affiliation: Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick, 100 Tucker Park Road, Saint John, NB, E2L 4L5, Canada. Paul.Atkinson@dal.ca.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Atkinson
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Milne
authors.forename: Osama
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Loubani
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Verheul