Elfwén L, et al. - In view of guidelines affirming clinicians to consider using ultrasound to assess the cause of cardiac arrest, researchers examined the link between Focused Cardiac Ultrasound (FOCUS) shortly after return of spontaneously circulation (ROSC) and further diagnostic measures and determined if improvement in the detection of pulmonary embolism, cardiac tamponade and acute myocardial infarction could be achieved. They conducted a retrospective, single-center, observational study of 237 (182 OHCA and 55 IHCA) patients who had FOCUS performed by cardiologists within 60 minutes of ROSC. In 52 (21.9%) patients, management and further immediate diagnostic measures varied based on the FOCUS findings. The decision to perform emergency coronary angiography was impacted by left-ventricular regional wall motion abnormalities in 17 (7.2%) patients, of whom nine were treated with PCI. In 21 (8.9%) patients, a decision to conduct computerized tomography of the thorax was impacted by right-ventricular dilatation and/or pressure overload; among these, 11 were diagnosed with pulmonary embolism. Three patients (1.2%) were found to have cardiac tamponade. Findings thereby support the inclusion of FOCUS in ALS-conformed post-resuscitation care as an adjunctive diagnostic measure shortly after ROSC.