Efficacy of Portable Ultrasound to Detect Pneumothorax Post-Lung Resection

Farah Mohammad, Adhnan Mohamed, Ilan Rubinfeld, Efstathios Karamanos, Karen Byers, Keith Killu and Zane Hammoud

Department of Thoracic Surgery and General Surgery, Henry Ford Hospital, USA

^*Correspondance to: Farah Mohammad 

 PDF  Full Text DOI: 10.25107/2474-1647.1901

Abstract

Background: The role of bedside ultrasonography in detection of Pneumothorax in the acute care setting is well established. However, its role in the diagnosis of Pneumothorax following chest tube removal post-lung resection has yet to be elucidated. Our aim was to assess the efficacy of portable ultrasound in the detection of Pneumothorax following chest tube removal post-lung resection.Methods: The study was approved by the institutional review board and all patients gave informed consent prior to enrollment. Patients underwent bedside transthoracic ultrasonography and chest radiography after an intraoperatively placed chest tube for lung resection was removed. Chest radiography was the standard in diagnosis of Pneumothorax post-chest tube removal.Results: A total of 78 patients were included in the study. Chest radiography detected Pneumothorax in 38 patients (49%). Of the 78 patients, Ultrasonography (US) detected Pneumothorax in 32 of these patients. With CXR as our standard, our sensitivity and specificity for ultrasound was 84% and 60%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 67% and 80% respectively. Only 6 patients were “false negative”, i.e. negative ultrasound but ultimately positive CXR, none of whom required further intervention.Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that portable sonography is efficacious in the detection of Pneumothorax after chest tube removal post-lung resection. This suggests that sonography may replace routine Chest X-Ray (CXR), thus leading to reduced overall costs and radiation exposure. Further studies are required to further refine the role of portable ultrasound post lung resection.

Keywords

Pneumothorax; Ultrasound; Perioperative care

Cite the article

Mohammad F, Mohamed A, Rubinfeld I, Karamanos E, Byers K, Killu K, et al. Efficacy of Portable Ultrasound to Detect Pneumothorax Post-Lung Resection. Clin Surg. 2018; 3: 1901.