doi:10.1155/2012/382615 Editorial Ultrasound Applications in Critical Care Medicine

Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The use of ultrasound has expanded enormously over the last two decades in critical care research and practice. Despite the fact that the method has several inherent limitations and is largely operator dependent, it enables clinicians for rapid, by-the-bed, and relatively inexpensive diagnostic evaluation of unstable patients. Point-of-care ultrasound applications such as lung ultrasound are gradually replacing traditional imaging modalities (i.e., chest X-rays), while the use of ultrasound for procedure guidance has been shown to reduce complications and thus to increase patients ’ safety [1–3]. In this issue, various papers illustrated the important role of ultrasound in the intensive care unit (ICU). K. Stefanidis et al. applied echogenic technology during ultrasound