Let´s suppose you are a general practitioner and a patient suffering from dry cough for one week enters your office.
One week ago, the patient suddenly started to experience general weakness, chills, shivering and high fever. The patient feels a little bit better now, but slightly elevated body temperature and cough have persisted until now. You auscultate the patient´s lungs and find coarse breathing sounds dorsocaudally bilaterally. You are not equipped with any bed-side CRP system. Does a patient suffer from pneumonia? Will you perform a chest X-ray?
Let´s suppose you have an ultrasound machine in your office. You scan the lungs over the area where you heard coarse breathing sounds: