Quantitative Analysis of Lung Ultrasonography for the Detection of Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Pilot Study

Background and Objective. Chest X-ray is recommended for routine use in patients with suspected pneumonia, but its use in emergency settings is limited. In this study, the diagnostic performance of a new method for quantitative analysis of lung ultrasonography was compared with bedside chest X-ray a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:BioMed research international 2015-01, Vol.2015 (2015), p.1-8
Main Authors: Brusasco, Vito, Vezzani, Antonella, Pelosi, Paolo, Santori, Gregorio, Ball, Lorenzo, Paparo, Francesco, Garlaschi, Alessandro, Brusasco, Claudia, Corradi, Francesco, Altomonte, Fiorella
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibiotics
Bacterial pneumonia
Binomial distribution
Community-Acquired Infections - diagnostic imaging
Comparative analysis
Diagnosis
Emergency medical care
Frequency distribution
Hospitals
Humans
Lung - diagnostic imaging
Methods
Pilot Projects
Pneumonia
Quantitative analysis
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
Ultrasonic imaging
Ultrasonography
Ultrasound imaging
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Background and Objective. Chest X-ray is recommended for routine use in patients with suspected pneumonia, but its use in emergency settings is limited. In this study, the diagnostic performance of a new method for quantitative analysis of lung ultrasonography was compared with bedside chest X-ray and visual lung ultrasonography for detection of community-acquired pneumonia, using thoracic computed tomography as a gold standard. Methods. Thirty-two spontaneously breathing patients with suspected community-acquired pneumonia, undergoing computed tomography examination, were consecutively enrolled. Each hemithorax was evaluated for the presence or absence of abnormalities by chest X-ray and quantitative or visual ultrasonography. Results. Quantitative ultrasonography showed higher sensitivity (93%), specificity (95%), and diagnostic accuracy (94%) than chest X-ray (64%, 80%, and 69%, resp.), visual ultrasonography (68%, 95%, and 77%, resp.), or their combination (77%, 75%, and 77%, resp.). Conclusions. Quantitative lung ultrasonography was considerably more accurate than either chest X-ray or visual ultrasonography in the diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia and it may represent a useful first-line approach for confirmation of clinical diagnosis in emergency settings.
ISSN:2314-6133
2314-6141
DOI:10.1155/2015/868707