Current applications of ultrasonography in anesthesia

Abstract

Ultrasound is a safe, portable, inexpensive, and easily accessible tool. Anesthesiologists can benefit from this fast and accurate diagnostic tool in their routine practice. There are multiple potential areas where ultrasound plays an important role in the guidance of blind and invasive interventions, diagnosis of critical conditions, and assessment of possible anatomical variations that may lead to modification of the anesthetic plan. This narrative review describes the main applications of ultrasound in anesthesia, ultrasound-guided techniques, and current trends in the perioperative anesthetic management of the surgical patient. A search was conducted in PubMed and Cochrane databases. Original articles, randomized and review studies in Spanish and English published between 2017-2021 were included. The use of ultrasound has entered the field of pain medicine, regional anesthesia, and interventional analgesia during the last decade and is even the standard of practice. Therefore, training and adequate learning in ultrasound should be part of the curriculum of any anesthesiology program.