Abdominal Aorta Ultrasound

How to Perform

Use a low-frequency curvilinear probe with the patient supine. Place the probe in the upper midline in a transverse orientation and identify the aorta as a pulsatile, thick-walled vessel anterior and slightly left of the vertebral body shadow (the inferior vena cava lies to the patient's right). Apply steady pressure to displace bowel gas and scan the aorta in transverse from the epigastrium down to its bifurcation into the iliac arteries, measuring the outer-wall-to-outer-wall diameter; then rotate to image it in long axis.

How to Interpret