Article CommentaryCommentary

An Academic Family Physician’s Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) Experience

William Hui
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine November 2025, 38 (6) 949-954; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2024.240379R1

Article Figures & Data

Figures

  • Figure 1.
    Figure 1.

    Lipoma. The linear internal reflectors within a well circumscribed, oval shaped isoechoic mass is suggestive of a lipoma.

  • Figure 2.
    Figure 2.

    Abscess. Irregularly bordered hypoechoic to anechoic mass with internal isoechoic contents.

  • Figure 3.
    Figure 3.

    Foreign body. A small hyperechoic foreign body is seen in the superficial soft tissue, highlighted by a hypoechoic halo sign surrounding it.

  • Figure 4.
    Figure 4.

    Knee effusion. There is a hypoechoic stripe in the middle, depicting a small to moderate knee effusion seen in the suprapatellar bursa between the patella (superficial hyperechoic bone on left) and femur (deep hyperechoic bone on right).

  • Figure 5.
    Figure 5.

    Baker’s cyst. A hypoechoic balloon-like mass seen in the posterior medial knee, in between the semimembranosus and medial gastrocnemius muscles.

  • Figure 6.
    Figure 6.

    Median nerve. With a linear probe in transverse position, an anechoic oval structure with honeycomb appearance is seen highlighted, at the distal transverse carpal crease of the wrist.

  • Figure 7.
    Figure 7.

    Achilles tendon near-complete tear. Achilles tendon visualized in longitudinal axis with anechoic near-complete tear seen in the middle, with both stumps visualized to the left and right of the anechoic area.

  • Figure 8.
    Figure 8.

    Achilles tendinopathy. Achilles tendon seen in longitudinal axis. There is an area of Achilles hypertrophy or thickening seen to the right of the screen, as well as diffuse heterogeneity with hypoechoic areas, suggestive of tendinopathy.

  • Figure 9.
    Figure 9.

    Muscle tear. There is an anechoic area indicating a full thickness tear, with retractions of the muscle seen to the left and right of the screen.

  • Figure 10.
    Figure 10.

    Abdominal inflammation. In the area of concern in the right lower quadrant, there was an area of bowel seen with an anechoic ring of fluid surrounding it, suggestive of inflammation, correlating to the physical examination of rebound tenderness and significant pain out of proportion to examination. On confirmatory Computed Tomography (CT), this was found to be a complicated cecal diverticulitis.

  • Figure 11.
    Figure 11.

    Gallstone. There is a rounded hyperechoic mass with posterior acoustic shadowing seen, suggestive of a gallstone near the gallbladder neck. In addition, there is also isoechoic sludge seen within the gallbladder.

  • Figure 12.
    Figure 12.

    Hernia. A hernia is seen protruding through the peritoneal defect, made more prominent with a valsava maneuver.

  • Figure 13.
    Figure 13.

    Pericardial effusion. In this subcostal view of the heart, there is an anechoic effusion circumferentially surrounding the pericardium.

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