Introduction:

echocardiography has meant one of the most spectacular revolutions in the field of medical sciences in the last hundred years.

Objective:

to describe some indications of the transthoracic echocardiography in critically ill patients as well as the therapeutic changes induced by its result.

Methods:

a descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out between November 1, 2018 and January 31, 2020 in the emergency services at “Joaquín Albarrán” Clinical and Surgical Teaching Hospital, Havana province, Cuba. The study universe consisted of patients (89 in total) who arrived at the emergency service with hemodynamic instability in the indicated period; all underwent a transthoracic echocardiography.

Results:

106 transthoracic echocardiograms were performed, and most of the patients had clinical diseases. It was possible to acquire useful images for the diagnosis in 100% of the patients. On average, 1.9 ± 1 acoustic windows were used per patient; 44 therapeutic modifications were made (41.5%) after performing the echocardiogram. The most important changes were related to fluid intake and the use of dobutamine.

Conclusions:

the transthoracic echocardiography, in the emergency context, can offer key information that leads to important changes in therapy.