Pathology

About this activity

This session will cover some of the pathological diagnoses that can cause haemodynamic instability and cardiac arrest, excluding left and right ventricular (LV and RV) pathology, which are covered elsewhere. Therefore hypovolaemia (including sepsis), cardiac tamponade, pulmonary embolus (PE), thoracic aortic dilatation and acute aortic dissection will be the topics covered in this session. Objectives By the end of this session you will be able to: • Describe the echo findings in the hypovolaemic patient in both spontaneously breathing and mechanically ventilated patients • Distinguish between a pericardial collection and cardiac tamponade • Identify the echo appearances of acute PE