Assessment of five different probes for lung ultrasound in critically ill patients: A pilot study.

INTRODUCTION: The present study was aimed at comparing the diagnosis concordance of five echo probes of lung ultrasound (LUS) with CT scans in intensive care and emergency patients with acute respiratory failure. MATERIALS: This prospective, observational, pilot study involved 10 acute patients in whom a thoracic CT scan was performed. An expert performed an LUS reference exam using five different probes: three probes with a high-quality conventional echo machine (cardiac phased-array probe, abdominal convex probe, linear probe) and two probes (cardiac and linear) with a pocket ultrasound device (PUD). Then, a trained physician and a resident performed 'blinded' analyses by viewing the video results on a computer. The primary objective was to test concordance between the blinded echo diagnosis and the CT scan. RESULTS: In the 100 LUS performed, the phased-array probe of the conventional machine and linear array probe of the PUD have the best concordance with the CT scan (Kappa coefficient=0.75 [CI 95%=0.54-0.96] and 0.62 [CI 95%=0.37-0.86], respectively) only for experts and trained physicians. The agreement was always poor for residents. Convex (abdominal) and linear transducers of conventional machines and the phased-array transducers (cardiac) of PUD have poor or very poor agreement, regardless of the physician's experience. CONCLUSION: Among the probes tested for LUS in acute patients, the cardiac probe of conventional machines and the linear probes of PUDs provide good diagnosis concordance with CT scans when performed by an expert and trained physician, but not by residents.

Point-of-care chest ultrasound to diagnose acute heart failure in emergency department patients with acute dyspnea: diagnostic performance of an ultrasound-based algorithm. / Rendimiento de un algoritmo basado en ecografía cardiopulmonar a la cabecera del paciente (POCUS) para el diagnóstico de insuficiencia cardiaca aguda en pacientes que consultan en urgencias por disnea aguda.

OBJECTIVES: Cardiopulmonary ultrasound imaging can be useful for diagnosing acute heart failure (AHF). We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of an algorithm based on point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in patients coming to the emergency department with acute dyspnea. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Prospective analysis of a convenience sample of patients with acute dyspnea in 2 hospital emergency departments. The POCUS algorithm included lung ultrasound findings and 3 echocardiographic measurements taken from an apical view of 4 chambers: mitral annular plane systolic excursion, Doppler mitral flow velocity, and tissue Doppler imaging of the lateral mitral annulus. The definitive diagnosis was made by 2 physicians blinded to the POCUS findings. RESULTS: A total of 103 adult patients with a mean (SD) age of 73 (12) years were included; about half (51 patients) were women. Forty-two patients (41%) were finally diagnosed with AHF. Interindividual agreement on the physicians' diagnoses was good (k = 0.82). The POCUS algorithm assigned an AHF diagnosis to 76 patients (74%); 56 of them (85%) were in sinus rhythm. The diagnostic performance indicators for the algorithm were as follows: area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.94 (95% CI, 0.88-1.00); sensitivity 96% (95% CI, 78%-100%); specificity, 93% (95% CI, 8%-98%); positive predictive value, 85% (95% CI, 67%-100%); negative predictive value, 98% (95% CI, 88%-100%). CONCLUSION: The POCUS-based algorithm for diagnosing AHF performed well in patients coming to the emergency department with acute dyspnea.

OBJETIVO: La ecografía cardiopulmonar puede ser útil para diagnosticar insuficiencia cardiaca aguda (ICA). Se evaluó el rendimiento diagnóstico de un algoritmo basado en ecografía cardiopulmonar a la cabecera del paciente (POCUS) para el diagnóstico de ICA en pacientes que consultan en urgencias por disnea aguda. METODO: Se evaluó prospectivamente una muestra de conveniencia de pacientes con disnea aguda en dos servicios de urgencias hospitalarios (SUH). El algoritmo POCUS incluía la ecografía pulmonar y tres mediciones ecocardiográficas realizadas en un plano apical de cuatro cámaras. Se midió el MAPSE (desplazamiento sistólico del plano del anillo mitral), doppler de flujo mitral y doppler tisular en el anillo mitral lateral. El diagnóstico final fue asignado por dos médicos ciegos entre sí y a los hallazgos ecográficos. RESULTADOS: Se incluyeron 103 pacientes adultos, la edad media fue 73 (12) años, 51 (50%) mujeres. El diagnóstico final fue ICA en 42 (41%) pacientes. La concordancia entre asignadores fue buena para el diagnóstico de ICA (k = 0,82). El algoritmo asignó un diagnóstico en 76 (74%) pacientes, 57 (85%) estaban en ritmo sinusal. El rendimiento diagnóstico del algoritmo de los 76 pacientes categorizados mostró un área bajo la curva de 0,94 (IC 95%: 0,88-1,00), sensibilidad 96% (IC 95%: 78-100%), especificidad 93% (IC 95%: 8-98%), valor predictivo positivo 85% (IC 95%: 67-100%), valor predictivo negativo 98% (IC 95%: 88-100%). CONCLUSIONES: El rendimiento de un algoritmo basado en ecografía cardiopulmonar POCUS fue bueno para diagnosticar ICA en pacientes que consultan en urgencias por disnea aguda.