Role of Ultrasonography in Diagnosis of Pleuropulmonary Diseases in Adults

Abstract

Introduction: The advantage of transthoracic ultrasound (TUS) includes the absence of ionizing radiation, easy performance, rapid, accurate, safe, short time of examination, lower cost, bedside availability and high sensitivity in detecting pleural and pulmonary diseases. Aim of this study: Aim of the current study was to assess of the role of transthoracic ultrasound in pleuropulmonary diseases in adults. Patients and methods: The present study included 50 patients who fulfilled the selection criteria and formed the study population. The present study was conducted in Radiology Department, Aswan University Hospital in the period from December 2016 to November 2017. All patients were subjected basically to full history taking, full clinical examination, chest x-ray, chest ultrasonography, CT chest and histopathological correlation for some cases. Results: In this study, patients were classified into 2 groups based on the final diagnosis. The first group included 28 cases with pleural diseases that the US reported sensitivity of 96.43%, specificity of 81.8%. The second group included 22 patients with pulmonary diseases that the US reported sensitivity of 95.45%, specificity of 78.57%. Recommendations: TUS has a valuable role at diagnosis of pleuropulmonary diseases