Acute heart failure: new diagnostic perspectives for the emergency physician

The topic of heart failure (HF) in the emergency department is today relevant, since there are new serum markers and imaging techniques that may help in the diagnosis of this disease. Natriuretic peptides have now entered the flowchart for etiologic diagnosis in patients with acute dyspnea, when technical facilities are available. Recently, chest ultrasonography has been shown to be useful for the noninvasive assessment of extravascular lung water. Starting from this practical standpoint, we propose that simple chest ultrasonogrpahic signs can provide a totally noninvasive characterization of pulmonary congestion in patients with HF.