IVC Window Agreement Study

Are Subcostal, Transhepatic, and Coronal Windows Interchangeable for IVC Ultrasonography? A Multicenter Prospective Agreement Study

Status

Not yet recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT07676968

Enrollment

900

Registered

2026-06-30

Start date

2026-08-01

Completion date

2026-12-30

Last updated

2026-06-30

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Emergency Care, POCUS, Venous Hemodynamics, Volume Assessment

Keywords

inferior vena cava, ultrasonography, volume status, POCUS

Brief summary

Ultrasonographic evaluation of the inferior vena cava (IVC) is widely used in emergency and critical care settings for noninvasive assessment of intravascular volume status. The subcostal (SC) window is the standard approach; however, it is frequently limited by obesity, bowel distension, or postoperative anatomical changes. In such cases, the right coronal (RC) and anterior transhepatic (aTH) windows have been proposed as alternatives.

Detailed description

The existing literature presents conflicting results regarding the interchangeability of these windows. Several studies report significant discrepancies between SC and RC measurements, while others demonstrate strong agreement. Direct comparison of the SC and aTH windows has received considerably less attention, with only a single prospective study to date reporting reliable agreement between these approaches under standardized imaging criteria. Methodological heterogeneity, most likely arising from an unstandardized imaging technique, underlies much of the observed discordance. As a result, clinicians lack clear guidance on whether alternative windows can reliably substitute for the SC approach across diverse clinical settings.

Interventions

None listed

Study design

Observational model

COHORT

Time perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* Adult patients (≥18 years) requiring ultrasonographic assessment of intravascular volume status will be consecutively enrolled.

Exclusion criteria

* Pregnancy, refusal to participate, and inability to obtain any IVC image via the SC approach.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
The intermethod agreement of IVC diameter and collapsibility index measurements	90 days	The intermethod agreement of IVC diameter and collapsibility index measurements obtained from the subcostal (SC), anterior transhepatic (aTH), and right coronal (RC) ultrasonographic windows under a standardized imaging protocol, and to determine whether aTH and RC windows can serve as reliable alternatives to the SC approach across diverse clinical settings and operator profiles.

Outcome results