Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Mar 15;26(3):363-368.
doi: 10.1177/17511437251326744. eCollection 2025 Aug.

Point-of-care ultrasound of the brain: A systematic review of competencies and training frameworks for intensivists

Adrian Wong  1 , Richard Cashmore  1 , Nurul Liana Roslan  1   2 , Nourhan Ahmed  1 , Mohamed Ibrahim  1 , Isla Kuhn  3 , Masumi Tanaka Gutiez  1
Affiliations
Review

Point-of-care ultrasound of the brain: A systematic review of competencies and training frameworks for intensivists

Adrian Wong et al. J Intensive Care Soc. .

Abstract

Background: POCUS is increasingly in utility and application across a variety of specialities. Although several professional societies, including the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) have recommended focussed Neurological ultrasound be a core competency, recommendations on how best to achieve this competency are lacking.

Aim: The purpose of this systematic review was to assess what best-practice and evidence-based recommendations are available to achieve competency in Neurological Point-of-care ultrasound (NeuroPOCUS).

Methods: We undertook a structured systematic review of publications and studies on the training of NeuroPOCUS for intensive care.

Results: Our search strategy yielded a total of 4965 publications, reduced to 3551 following de-duplication. Despite this, only 28 publications were relevant following review of title and abstract and only 12 of these on full-text review. We identified three prospective studies, four consensus statements and five publications as posters and published abstracts. Structured analysis of these revealed minimal evidence-based teaching recommendations, and significant variability in teaching method.

Conclusion: Compared to other modalities of POCUS (e.g. Cardiac and Lung), NeuroPOCUS lags behind with regards to utilisation and training in the general intensive care setting. Further work is needed to establish how this technique can be effectively taught and assessed for clinical application.

Keywords: Doppler; Ultrasonography; clinical competence/standards; critical care; neurosonology; transcranial/standards.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: A. Wong has received honoraria for the delivery of educational material from GE Healthcare and Mindray. These relationships have been disclosed to the journal and are being reported in the interest of transparency.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Consort diagram.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. RPNI Examination Information. The American Society of Neuroimaging, https://www.asnweb.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3309 (2023, accessed 18 October 2024).
    1. Robba C, Poole D, Citerio G, et al. Brain ultrasonography consensus on skill recommendations and competence levels within the critical care setting. Neurocrit Care 2020; 32: 502–511. - PubMed
    1. Robba C, Wong A, Poole D, et al. Basic ultrasound head-to-toe skills for intensivists in the general and neuro intensive care unit population: consensus and expert recommendations of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine. Intensive Care Med 2021; 47: 1347–1367. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Miller A, Peck M, Clark T, et al. FUSIC HD. Comprehensive haemodynamic assessment with ultrasound. J Intensive Care Soc 2021; 23: 325–333. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Intensive Care Society. FUSIC® Heart, https://ics.ac.uk/product/fusic-heart.html (2018, accessed 18 October 2024).

LinkOut - more resources