Identifying Gastrointestinal Pathologies Using Point-of-Care Ultrasound.
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2026-02
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Abstract
Patients presenting with abdominal pain require expedited diagnosis and treatment. Computed tomography (CT) scans, which are frequently ordered in the inpatient and emergency departments, have high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. However, CTs are costly, have radiation exposure, can create hospital workflow inefficiencies, and create a potential safety risk with patient transport. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) use is growing as an efficient, safe, and bedside assessment tool for diagnosing and treating gastrointestinal (GI) pathologies. This manuscript synthesizes key sonographic findings and techniques for a series of important GI pathologies that physicians should recognize: diverticulitis, hernia, appendicitis, intussusception, and intra-abdominal mass.
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Theophanous, Rebecca G, Lior Abramson and Yuriy S Bronshteyn (2026). Identifying Gastrointestinal Pathologies Using Point-of-Care Ultrasound. Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland), 16(3). p. 418. 10.3390/diagnostics16030418 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/34219.
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Rebecca George Theophanous
Rebecca Theophanous, MD, MHSc, FAEMUS is an Emergency Ultrasound Faculty at Duke University Hospital and the Durham VA Healthcare System.
She is actively involved with clinical ultrasound education, teaching residents and students on shift, performing weekly ultrasound image review, presenting monthly advanced ultrasound talks, and teaching at monthly resident simulation sessions.
Her first-author publications investigate the diagnostic utility and accuracy of 3D ultrasound for assessing ocular complaints, and she developed a point-of-care ultrasound implementation intervention for VA clinicians (funded by an SAEMF/AEUS grant in 2022-2023). Furthermore, she completed a Master of Health Sciences degree through Duke’s Clinical Research Training Program and served as site PI for the Reason3 POCUS in cardiac arrest trial. Her recent SAEM ARMED MedEd studies involve implementation and testing of POCUS simulation-training methods (nerve block training funded by SAEMF), resident and faculty development, and POCUS competency testing.
Dr. Theophanous leads as an AAEM-EUS councilor and SCUF Education fellowship curriculum subcommittee lead. She has presented both didactic and research-based talks at national conferences and has experience writing POCUS guidelines and policy on her hospital’s POCUS taskforce. Finally, she is a reviewer for multiple medical journals, including for the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine.
Yuriy Semenovich Bronshteyn
I'm an intensivist and anesthesiologist with additional expertise in diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS). I'm interested in using diagnostic POCUS to help improve the care of critically ill patients. My training in diagnostic POCUS includes all of the following: board certification (Diplomate status) in Critical Care Echocardiography, board certification (Diplomate status) in Advanced Perioperative Transesophgeal Echocardiography, and completion of the American College of Chest Physicians/CHEST ICU POCUS Certificate Program. Finally, I am the immediate past Editor-in-Chief and current Editor for the American Society of Anesthesiologists' Editorial Board on POCUS and Section Editor for POCUS for OpenAnesthesia.org. Outside of diagnostic ultrasound, my other board certifications are in the following medical specialties: Anesthesiology, Critical Care Medicine, and Neuro Critical Care.
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