Test yourself
Gastric POCUS: empty, fluid or solid?
5 questions. Pick an answer to see whether you are right and why. Your score appears at the end.
Question 1Where does the gastric antrum lie in a sagittal epigastric view?
Show answer
Answer d. In the sagittal epigastric view, the liver sits anterior, at the top of the screen, and the aorta or IVC lies deep. The antrum lies between them. Finding both landmarks confirms the plane.
Question 2Why scan in the right lateral decubitus position?
Show answer
Answer b. With the right side down, gravity moves gastric fluid into the antrum, the most dependent part of the stomach in this position. This improves detection of small volumes. Air rises to the fundus, away from the probe's view.
Question 3A collapsed antrum with layered walls and no contents gives a target appearance. What does this show?
Show answer
Answer d. An empty antrum is small and collapsed, and its muscle and mucosal layers give a bull's-eye pattern. Clear fluid distends the antrum with black contents. Solid food fills it with bright, mixed echoes.
Question 4The antrum is distended, with bright, mixed contents and a blurred back wall. What does this show?
Show answer
Answer a. Food mixed with air gives a frosted-glass appearance which blurs structures behind it. This suggests solid content and a higher aspiration risk. Clear fluid is black and shows the back wall clearly.
Question 5How should gastric POCUS inform a decision about sedation?
Show answer
Answer d. Gastric POCUS shows what is in the stomach, which fasting times alone cannot. It informs the risk assessment, alongside the urgency of the procedure, the airway and local guidance. It does not replace clinical judgement.
Practise it with us
Four or five delegates per instructor, FAMUS-accredited faculty and long, supervised time on the probe.
Newsletter
A new pearl and test every month.
One email a month: a practical scanning skill, new Learn posts and course dates before they go public.