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Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 2006;17(5): 493-499. |
| Approximation of the Size of Pneumothorax by Ultrasound for Patients with a Possibility of Pneumothorax |
| Ki Yoel Kim, Jin Joo Kim, Sung Yoel Hyun, Jae Kwang Kim, Jae Kwan Lee, Hyuk Jun Yang, Gun Lee, Seong Youn Hwang |
1Department of Emergency Medicine, Gil Hospital, Gachon university, Incheon, Korea. empearl@gilhospital.com
2Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular surgery, Gil Hospital, Gachon university, Incheon, Korea.
3Department of Emergency Medicine, Masan Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Masan, Korea. |
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| ABSTRACT |
PURPOSE:
This study was designed to evaluate the accuracy of ultrasound in detecting and estimating the size of pneumothorax
METHODS:
This was a prospective study with convenience sampling, based on researcher availability. Inclusion criteria were chest pain, sudden dyspnea, and chest trauma.
Bedside ultrasound examination was performed to determine the presence of "lung sliding" and "comet tail" artifacts in order to rule out pneumothorax and the location of "lung point" when pneumothorax was detected.
RESULTS:
There were 97 patients enrolled; The cause of pneumothorax was spontaneous in 64 cases and traumatic in 33 cases. The Pearson correlation coefficient between ultrasound estimates and pneumothorax size by Collins method on erect chest X-ray was 0.874 (p<0.000), and the coefficient between ultrasound estimates and pneumothorax size on computed tomography was 0.820 (p<0.000).
CONCLUSION:
Ultrasound is more sensitive and specific than supine chest X-ray and even erect chest PA for the diagnosis of pneumothorax. Ultrasound allowed skilled physicians to approximate the size of pneumothorax accurately with good correlation with results obtained by both computed tomography and erect chest X-ray. |
| Key words:
Pneumothorax, Ultrasonography |
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