Abstract
Background: Thoracic ultrasound (US) has been shown to be highly effective in evaluating a range of pathologic conditions. Objectives: to evaluate the role of ultrasound in the diagnosis of pneumonia.
Methods: a cross-sectional study included 55 patients suspected to have pneumonia. All patients have been subjected to chest X-ray, computed tomography (CT) and thoracic US.
Results: ultrasound had 100% sensitivity and 91.2% specificity with accuracy 98.2% in diagnosis of pneumonia compared to CT. While the sensitivity, specificity & accuracy of chest x-ray were 74.4%, 25% & 63.3% respectively. US was better than CT for diagnosis of parapneumonic effusion & cavitation. The most sign suggesting consolidation was tissue like sign with irregular margins (90.0%) &air bronchogram. in addition US was able to detect 4 cases of post-stenotic pneumonia, 2 cases of atelectasis and 6 cases of lung mass.
Conclusion: thoracic US is comparable to CT in the diagnosis of pneumonia; the added value was its able to differentiate between simple pneumonia and post-stenotic pneumonia, atelectasis, and mass.
- Copyright ©the authors 2017
