The pelvic view is one of the most difficult to interpret as a novice.

This is because of a lot of shadowing and disturbance from the surrounding structures e.g. bowel and bony structures of the pelvis.

In the image below this is especially seen as the dark areas of bony shadowing on each of the sides of the male bladder in the male pelvic view.

These areas should not be confused with intraperitoneal fluid.

In the perisplenic view, the following structures are seen:

• Diaphragm
• Spleen
• Kidney

The perisplenic view is obtained in the same way as perihepatic view.

Be aware that a slight rotation on the transducer in order to avoid rib shadowing should be done with a clockwise rotation as opposed to the counter-clockwise rotation in the perihepatic view.

In the perihepatic view, the following structures are seen:

• Diaphragm
• Liver
• Kidney

To look for free fluid in the abdomen, four views are relevant:

• The perihepatic view
• The perisplenic view
• The pelvic views – transverse and longitudinal views
• The peri-intestinal view(s)

The next sections will take you through how to obtain these views

In the transverse aortic view, the following structures are seen:
• Aorta
• Inferior vena cava
• Columna vertebralis

In the longitudinal abdomnial aortic view, the following structures are seen:
• Aorta
• Liver (in the upper part of the abdomen)

For focused ultrasonography of the abdomen a lower frequency curved (abdominal) transducer is used.

A lower-frequency curved transducer (abdominal) permits the deep penetration that is needed for evaluating deeper structures and has a wide footprint that allows a good overview.

If no abdominal transducer is available, a cardiac transducer can be used, but the small footprint of this transducer does not offer as good an overview.

Tips and tricks
The ‘abdominal’ transducer can be used for all lung and abdominal examinations.