Point-of-Care Ultrasound of the Urinary Tract

Abstract

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) provides immediate and useful information that aids clinical decision making at the bedside. The purpose of this article is to describe how POCUS can be integrated in the evaluation of the urinary system. In the first section, the authors aim to describe image acquisition and typical sonoanatomy of the kidney and bladder. The rest of the article focuses on three common scenarios where POCUS can be integrated into clinical practice: hydronephrosis, nephrolithiasis, and bladder distension. The authors include evidence from the literature and describe commonly encountered pitfalls.

Keywords: Bladder distension; Bladder ultrasound; Hydronephrosis; Nephrolithiasis; Obstructive uropathy; POCUS.