Obligatory medical device diagnostics
- Continuous monitoring of vital signs:
- Blood pressure (RR): blood pressure measurement* [most important symptom of IkS – but not obligatory – hypotension (low blood pressure) < 90 mmHG systolic for at least 30 minutes, in conjunction with signs of organ diminished perfusion (organ diminished blood flow): cold extremities, oliguria (decreased urine production with a daily maximum of 500 ml), mental changes such as agitation (pathological restlessness)]
- Pulse/heart rate (HR)
- Respiratory rate (AF)
- Blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) (pulse oximetry; measurement of oxygen saturation of arterial blood and pulse rate).
- Abdominal sonography (ultrasound examination of the abdominal organs) – for basic diagnostics.
- Electrocardiogram (ECG; recording of electrical activity of the heart muscle)* [evidence of STEMI/ST segment elevation myocardial infarction; in rare cases: NSTEMI – no ST segment elevations]
- Echocardiography (echo; cardiac ultrasound).
- Patients in shock and acute hypoxia (oxygen deprivation).
- Patients requiring resuscitation
- Patients with dyspnea (shortness of breath) and congestion symptoms.
- Heart failure (cardiac insufficiency) – to distinguish systolic from diastolic dysfunction.
- Recognize right heart failure as a possible cause of acute circulatory failure.
- X-ray of the chest (X-ray thorax/chest), in two planes.
- Computed tomography of the skull (cranial CT, cranial CT or cCT) – if involvement (co-injury) of the brain is suspected.
Optional medical device diagnostics – depending on the results of the history, physical examination and mandatory laboratory parameters – for differential diagnostic clarification.
- Arterial pulse contour analysis – method for monitoring hemodynamics in patients requiring intensive care.
- Gastroscopy (gastroscopy) and colonoscopy (colonoscopy) – for suspected gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB; gastrointestinal bleeding).
- Invasive blood pressure measurement*
- Cardiac output measurement (flow monitoring)* .
- Sidestream darkfield microscopy (abbreviated SDF, in German: Seitenstrom-Dunkelfeld-Bildgebung; method for the study of microcirculation) – early detection of microcirculatory disorders in critically ill patients [surrogate parameters of microcirculation are urine production and serum lactate (hyperlactatemia: sensitive marker for tissue hypoxia/deficient oxygen supply to the body or individual body sections)].
* Infarct-related cardiogenic shock (ICS).
