Abstract
Symptom-based ultrasonography describes 2 approaches to point-of-care ultrasonography for emergency department patients who present with chest pain and dyspnea, or abdominal pain. The aim of this article is provide a framework to rule in or out life-threatening causes rapidly at the bedside and allow narrowing down of a large list of differential diagnosis while additional tests are being ordered. Although this article is primarily written for the emergency physician, it can also be used in other care settings. In the hands of trained clinicians, bedside ultrasonography is a truly valuable tool.