Table.

Summary of chest radiography versus point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) signs of non-traumatic aortic dissection.3,20,29,32,36–40

Imaging sign	Chest radiograph	POCUS (views)
Intimal flap (definitive diagnosis of AD)	No	Yes (PSL [aortic root and ascending aorta], PSL and AP4 [portions of descending aorta], suprasternal aortic arch, abdominal descending aorta) (sensitivity 88–99%)
Intramural hematoma/thrombus (definitive diagnosis of AD)	Yes (sensitivity 49–63%)	Yes (PSL [aortic root and ascending aorta], suprasternal aortic arch, abdominal descending aorta) (sensitivity 88%)
Left-sided pleural effusion	Yes (sensitivity 19%)	Yes (lung) (sensitivity 94%)
Pericardial effusion/tamponade (enlarged cardiac silhouette)	Yes (sensitivity 26%)	Yes (SX, PSL) (sensitivity 96%)
Wall motion abnormality	No	Yes (SX, PSL, AP4)
Thoracic aorta size/contour (wide mediastinum)	Yes (sensitivity 49–67%)	Yes (PSL, suprasternal aortic arch) (sensitivity 93%)
Abdominal aorta size	No	Yes (abdominal aorta) (sensitivity 99–100%)

AD, aortic dissection; PSL, parasternal long; AP4, apical four chamber; SX, subxiphoid.