Identification of high-risk patients with acute coronary syndrome using point-of-care echocardiography in the ED.

Stratifying risk of patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in the emergency department (ED) remains a frequent challenge. When ST-elevation criteria are absent, current recommendations rely upon insensitive and time-intensive methods such as the electrocardiogram and cardiac enzyme testing. Here, we report on a series of cases, where emergency physicians used a simplified model for identifying regional wall motion abnormalities by point-of-care echocardiography in patients presenting with chest pain to the ED. With the use of a simplified model described herein, high-risk patients with ACS were identified rapidly in a cohort usually difficult to risk stratify.